.,-,„„//  I,IT<JS  .iug\J  we* 


EHWAAD  I. 

3»tn« 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

PAGE 

BALTIC  CURRENT  6— GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES— ARGYLL,  ETC.        78 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  7— BRITISH  ISLES  6 — SCOTLAND  3 — GALWAY  CURVE 

— LANARKSHIRE,  EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.       .  .  .93 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  8— BRITISH  ISLES  7— SCOTLAND  4— GALWAY  CURVE 

— NORTH-EAST  COAST         ......      107 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  9 — BRITISH  ISLES  8 — SCOTLAND  5 — NEWPORT  LINE 

— CENTRAL  SCOTLAND        .  .  .  .  .118 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  10 — BRITISH  ISLES  9 — SCOTLAND  6 — DERRY  VEAGH 

CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL  AND  NORTHERN  SCOTLAND  ,      132 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  11— BRITISH  ISLES  10 — SCOTLAND  7— STRATH  BRAN, 

BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  .  .  .  .151 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
BALTIC  CURRENT  12— BRITISH  ISLES  11— ISLE  OF  MAN  .  .168 

CHAPTER  XL. 
BALTIC  CURRENT  13— BRITISH  ISLES  12— YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.      177 

CHAPTER   XLI. 
BALTIC  CURRENT  14— BRITISH  ISLES  13— WALES  2  203 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

PAGE 

BALTIC  CURRENT  15 — BRITISH  ISLES  14 — ENGLAND  (SOUTH)  .        -'-v'     215 

CHATTER  XLIII. 

BELLEISLE  CURRENT — AMERICA        '--.'•     ''••'•-.••    <:  :.  -    '-'.-'     •' v      235 

CHAPTER   XLIV. 
GLACIAL  PERIODS  .  .  .  .  .  .  ...     249 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

DEPOSITION — NATURAL  SCIENCE — FORCE — ENGINES — TOOLS — MARKS       262 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

DEPOSITION  2  —  TIME  2 — TEMPERATURE — LIGHT — AIR — WATER — 

WINDS — WAVES — FORM     .        -«";-••     '•'- .  &   :'-V«'        .         r.-      268 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 
DEPOSITION  3 — WINDS  2 — WAVES  2 — WAVE-MARKS    .  .  .      275 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

DEPOSITION  4— WINDS  3— WAVES  3 — BEACHES          \    •     '  .  .      285 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
DEPOSITION  5— WINDS  4— WAVES  4— STREAM-MARKS  .  .      294 

CHAPTER  L. 
DEPOSITION  6 — BEDDING — RAIN-MARKS  .  .303 

CHAPTER  LI. 

DEPOSITION  7 — FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS        .  .  •      319 


yiii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   LII. 

PAGE 

UPHEAVAL — DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION     .  .  .      339 

CHAPTEE    LIII. 

UPHEAVAL  2— RAYS  AND  WEIGHT  2 — FUSION  AND  FREEZING — METAL 

AND  SLAG   ........       354 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

SPARKS — VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES        .  .  .      367 

CHAPTER  LV. 
TUBES  AND  SPRINGS       .  .  .  .  .  .  .387 

CHAPTER  LVI. 

SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS,  TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES      .  .  .410 

CHAPTER  LVII. 
RAYS       .........       438 

CHAPTER  LVIII. 

FORCB,  MOVEMENT,  WORK,  FORM  461 


7 — Jointed  Tors,  Connemara.     ^ 

I  Drawn  from    nature  on  the 


ILLUSTEATIONS  TO  VOL.  II. 

Chiefly  selected  to  illustrate  forms  which  result  from  the  action  of 
certain  forces,  and  from  movements  caused  by  them.  Marks  of 
Denudation,  Deposition,  and  Upheaval:  Gravitation,  Radiation, 
and  Rotation :  Forces :  and  Will. 

Pig.      Page 

FRONTISPIECE — Map,   showing  the  present  position    of  a 

marine  glacial  period. 
65          6 — A  small  example  of  "  roche  moutonnee,"  Wales.     Ice  and 

its  marks.     1863. 
66 

67  10 — Perched  block,  Connemara.   ? 

\       wood.     1863. 

68  10 — Dropped  block,  Connemara.-' 

69  1 7 — Forest  of  Gairloch.     Ice-marks  on  a  hill-shoulder  ^-^  of  gray 

quartz,  at  about  1350  feet  above  the  sea  ;  level  with  the 
opposite  edge  of  the  glen  — '.     Method  of  mapping  striae. 

70  19 — Cloch  Corril  and  the  twelve  pins  of  Connemara.     Drawn 

from  nature  on  the  wood,  1863.     (Reversed.) 

71  25 — Train  of  blocks  near  Furness  Lake  ;  and  Moyculleen  Hills. 

Ditto. 

72  2  8 — Perched  block  on  rounded  tor,  Cnoc  Ourid,  1200  feet.    Ditto. 

73  29 — Perched  block,  Cnoc  Mordan,  1100  feet.     Ditto. 

74  64 — Achill  Head.   A  water-mark   |_.     Sea-margin  :  cliff.    1863. 

75  85 — Tors  and  perched  blocks  at  1600  feet.    Top  of  Beinn  Bhreac. 

Drawn  from  nature  on  the  wood.     1863. 

76  92 — Westport  curve. — An  ice-mark  in  Scotland.     Striae  upon  a 

rock  in  Loch  Fyne,  about  three  miles  south-west  of  Inver- 
ary.     From  a  photograph.     1863.     ^~\ 


X  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Fig.       Page 

77  106 — A  water-mark  in  Iceland. — Merkiar  Foss  near  Hecla.     5th 

August  1861. 

78  117 — Granite  veins  in  shattered  beds  of  altered  slate.     Kailway 

cutting  at  Dalwhinny.  Drawn  from  nature  on  the  block. 
(Reversed.)  A  fire-mark  under  ice-marks  and  water- 
marks. 1863. 

79  150 — Ancient  sea-margin.     Terraces  about  700  feet  above  the 

sea.     Loch  Eoisg.     Eocks  worn  by  ice.     1863. 

80  158 — West  coast  of  Sutherland.     Denudation  on  a  large  scale, 

and  ice-marks.     25th  Sept.  1848. 

81  167 — Bounded  granite  boulder  in  a  wood  behind  Tulloch,  rest- 

ing on  slate,  540  feet  above  the  sea.     1863. 

82  184 — Wales.     Map,  showing  the  general  trend  of  hollows.     Do. 

83  197 — N.E.  corner  of  Wales.    General  form  of, the  country  ^^.  Do. 

84  200 — Coed    Mawr,   Wales.       Sketch  to  show  the  direction  of 

high  striae  parallel  to  the  Snowdon  range.      Do. 

85  214 — Devil's  Bridge.     A  water-mark  (J.  Do. 

86  221 — Blakeston  Tor,  Dartmoor  ^.  Do. 

87  225 — Terraces  at  Stockbridge.     Casting  a  small  fly  over  heavy 

fish.     Ancient  sea-margins,  eddies,  and  vortices.    Do. 

88  230 — Eddies  and  whirling  floats.  Do. 

89  234—"  The  Scilly  Bishops."     Lat.  49°  51'  N.     The  last  of  the 

British  Isles.     From  a  sketch  made  8th  July  1859. 

90  248 — Maggoty  Cove  and  Harbour  of  St.  John's.    Ice.     June  1863. 

Waves  and  Beaches.     Denudation  and  Deposition. 

91  261 — A  breaking  wave.    From  a  photograph.    Taken  Aug.  1858. 

92  272 — Diagram.     Wave-forms  and  wave-marks. 

93  279 — Cross-rollers  at  Isle  de  Rhe,  near  Rochelle.    From  a  sketch 

made  from  the  Tour  de  Balene.       November  1859. 

94  286— A  breaker.     Sketched  in  Cornwall,  1850. 

95  288 — Bolands    Hofvdi,  Iceland.      Cliff  and  talus,    beach    and 

breaker.     August  16,  1862. 


ILLUSTEATIONS.  XI 

Fig.       Page 

96  293 — A  snow- wave  in  Cheshire.    Sketched  from  nature,  after  a 

strong  breeze  of  wind.     January  28,  1865. 

97  298 — Section  of  a  snow-beach.     Copied  from  a  drift  in  the  south 

of  England. 

98  299 — Diagram.     Damp  sand  beaches  packed  by  air-waves  near 

a  rivulet  in  Iceland. 

99  306 — A  working  model  of  a  marine  formation. 

100  311 — Diagram.     Stratified  snow-beds  forming. 

101  312 — Drift-beds  on  Goat  Island,  Niagara.     1864. 

102  318 — Fossils.     St.  Louis  and  Mammoth  Cave.     1864. 

Upheaval. 

103  338 — An  ounce  of  silver,  prepared  at  Newcastle.    Kadiation  and 

form.     Fusion  and  freezing.     December  16,  1863. 

104  353 — "  Sphericity  of  water."     Radiation.     A  hollow  sphere  of 

fluid.     Ditto. 

104a  379 — Sections  of  volcanic  bombs,  from  Hraundal  in  Iceland. 
Printed  from  the  stones.  Radiation  and  rotation. 
Fusion  and  freezing.  Chambered  crust  and  core.  Bent 
rays.  August  20,  1862. 

105  400 — Vertical  section  through  a  frozen  stream  of  wrinkled  slag. 

Printed  from  the  stone.     Radiation  and  flow.     Fusion 
and  freezing.     1862. 

106  409 — The   Geysers  from  the  horse-track.      Tubes,  cones,  and 

craters.     1861  and  1862. 

107  414 — The  Great  Geyser  boiling  over.      Eruption,  projectiles, 

tubes,  and  cones.     Saturday,  August  2,  1862. 

108  415 — Strokr  and  Geyser.     Tubes,  section.     Ditto. 

109  423 — Sections   through   the    surface   of  a   frozen   lava-stream. 

Printed  from  the  stones.     Radiation  and  flow.     Fusion 
and  freezing.      August  23,  1862. 

110  450 — Diagram.     Centrifugal  force. 

111  453 — Diagram.     Radiation  and  rotation. 


xii  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Pig.       Pago 

112  480 — Wood-engraving  by  rays.      The   sun's  path  in  the  sky. 

1863. 

113  481 — Ditto.    The  sun's  path  on  two  cloudy  days.     1862,1863. 

114  481 — Ditto.     Solar  scale.     1865. 

115  484 — Ditto.     The  sun's  burning  power  at  about  twelve  degrees 

above  the  horizon  for  about  three  months.  Horizontal 
section  of  a  dial.  1859. 

116  487 — Ditto.     The  sun's  burning  power  at  noon  for  about  three 

months.  Vertical  section  on  the  meridian  of  a  dial. 
1859. 

117  501 — From  a  photograph  of  the  sun,  March  1859,  supposed  to 

be  a  picture  of  forms  in  the  solar  atmosphere  which 
result  from  gravitation,  radiation,  and  rotation.  Watch 
and  dial. 


CHAPTEE    XXVIII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

WHEN  facts  have  been  gathered,  sorted,  and  piled,  the  mound 
is  an  observatory.  When  a  train  of  machinery  has  been 
explored,  from  the  dial-plate  even  to  the  axis  of  one  small 
wheel,  the  dial  may  be  read  though  the  entire  engine  may 
still  be  incomprehensible.  When  an  engine  has  been  seen  to 
work,  the  tool-marks  may  be  used  as  records  of  work  done. 
When  a  creature  has  been  seen  to  make  tracks  the  old  spoor 
may  be  followed.  In  the  preceding  pages  an  arctic  current 
has  been  followed  ;  a  pile  of  facts  gathered  ;  part  of  an  engine 
explored  ;  tool-marks  studied  ;  a  spoor  learned  ;  a  theory  has 
been  built  on  a  pile  of  ice ;  it  will  fall  to  the  ground  if  ill 
founded.  The  way  to  test  it  is  to  work  up  stream,  from  delta 
to  source,  from  circumference  to  centre,  from  the  spoor  to  the 
deer,  from  old  ice-marks  to  melted  ice,  from  tool-marks  back 
to  the  wheels  which  carved  out  hills  and  hollows.  Old  marks 
in  the  British  Isles  will  serve  to  test  the  theory  of  an  old 
Baltic  Current ;  and  the  following  pages  give  the  result  of  an 
attempt  to  read  and  translate  the  record. 

It  has  been  shown  that  a  current  probably  flowed  from 
the  polar  basin  through  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia,  over  Southern 
Scandinavia  and  Denmark,  and  parts  of  England,  if  ever 
central  Europe  was  under  water  ;  and  if  so  its  tracks  should 
remain  in  the  British  Isles. 

If  men  wish  to  know  from  what  quarter  the  wind  is 

VOL.   II.  B 


2  BALTIC  CURRENT. 

blowing  they  look  up  to  the  nearest  chimney  for  a  stream  of 
smoke  ;  to  a  steeple  for  a  weathercock  ;  to  mist  on  a  hill ;  or 
to  clouds  moving  freely  in  air.  They  do  not  watch  eddies 
near  the  ground  which  whirl  round  corners  and  posts  in 
streets,  or  past  rocks  and  glens  in  hilly  countries  ;  and  which 
pack  sand  and  whirling  autumn  leaves  in  curved  ridges  and 
furrows  in  every  sheltered  nook. 

The  weather-wise  look  up  to  some  high  point  in  the 
general  air-current,  where  the  wind  is  not  altered  by  impedi- 
ments. If  we  wish  to  know  the  direction  in  which  the  wind 
commonly  blows,  we  look  for  a  tree  growing  in  some  exposed 
place,  and  note  the  bend  in  the  trunk  and  branches  (vol.  i.  pp. 
31,  59).  It  is  vain  to  look  at  sheltered  trees,  or  at  trees  in 
o-lens  where  the  wind  eddies  and  whirls  in  all  directions,  while 

& 

the  main  stream  blows  steadily  on  above.  If  we  want  to  find 
out  the  course  of  an  old  arctic  current  which  brought  glacial 
drift  to  grind  British  rocks,  we  must  in  like  manner  look  up. 
It  is  vain  to  search  sheltered  glens  for  marks  of  a  general 
system  of  glacial  denudation,  and  for  tracks  of  polar  ice  moved 
by  ocean-currents.  If  such  marks  exist  they  can  only  be 
found  at  exposed  places ;  on  wide  plains  ;  on  hill-tops  ;  on 
high  ridges,  where  trees  and  plants  are  bent  by  the  wind. 

To  find  out  whence  British  glacial  drift  came,  British  hill- 
tops near  the  coast,  and  far  inland,  must  be  searched  for 
marks,  and  the  marks  followed  from  hill  to  hill.  Marks  of 
old  local  glaciers,  and  old  local  glacial  systems,  must  be 
sought  in  hollows,  for  glaciers  like  rivers  flow  in  hollows 
down-hill.  But  marks  of  ocean-currents  and  ice-floats  must 
be  sought  along  some  ancient  sea-level,  for  ocean-currents 
move  on  the  curves  of  the  globe. 

Hunting  is  healthy  pastime,  and  hunting  for  ice-marks 
upon  hill-tops  may  be  combined  with  other  sport.     The  spoor 


BRITISH  ISLES.  3 

leads  to  the  haunts  of  grouse,  deer,  and  ptarmigan  ;  to  grand 
scenery  and  to  regions  of  fresh  air. 

In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  is  made  to  show  the 
result  of  a  search  for  high  ice-marks  along  some  of  the  curves 
on  the  maps  at  pages  232  and  496,  vol.  i. 

The  spoor. — Before  starting  on  any  pursuit,  be  it  the  spoor 
of  an  animal  or  an  arctic  current,  the  marks  must  be  learned. 
A  Highland  deer-stalker,  an  Indian  tracker,  a  Bushman,  or 
any  practised  hunter,  will  follow  a  deer  where  a  stranger  sees 
no  track  ;  and  so  it  is  with  ice-marks,  they  must  be  studied 
before  they  can  be  followed.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to 
show  how  some  ice-marks  are  now  made  ;  the  old  marks 
relied  on  are  shortly  these — 

1.  Polishing. — Upon  certain  hard  rocks  which  will  take 
a  fine  surface,  and  over  which  ice  is  passing,  or  has  lately 
passed  ;  beneath  glaciers,  or  near  them,  or  near  moving  sea- 
ice  ;  the  stone  surface  shines  when  wet,  feels  perfectly  smooth, 
and  is  neither  "joint"  nor  "cleavage  plane,"  nor  " bedding." 
It  is  worn,  ground,  and  polished  by  the  continual  passage  of 
hard  heavy  ice,  clay,  and  fine  sand.     As  no  other  natural 
engine   now   produces   like   work,    and   ice   always   does,  a 
polished  surface  "in  situ"  proves  the  passage  of  ice,  even 
over  a  hill-top. 

2.  Strice. — According  to  the  direction  in  which  ice  moves, 
so  is  the  direction  of  the  mark  made.     The  polished  surface 
is  usually  varied  by  grooves.     On  the  surface  of  the  rock 
parallel  straight  lines  of  various  dimensions  are  often  ruled, 
and  these  lines  point  out  the  direction  in  which  the  polishing 
engine  moves.     It  may  not  be  easy  to  recognise  these  marks 
at  first,  and  there  seems  always  a  lurking  wish  to  show  that 
they  were  made   by  something  familiar.     It  is  told  that  a 
number  of  geologists  once  met  at  a  quarry,  to  hold  solemn 


4  BALTIC  CUERENT. 

conclave  over  certain  marks  on  the  stone.  Much  breath  and 
some  brain-work  were  expended,  and  no  solution  of  the  mys- 
tery found.  At  the  end  of  the  meeting  a  workman,  who  was 
going  home,  appeared  above,  and  slid  down  the  rock  with 
hob-nailed  boots.  The  denuding  engine  was  seen  to  make 
tracks,  and  there  was  an  end  of  this  question.  When  glaciers 
have  been  seen  at  work,  their  tracks  are  as  easily  known  as 
the  print  of  a  shoe.  Strise  are  only  skin  deep  ;  they  do  not, 
in  any  way,  correspond  to  the  structure  of  the  rock,  or  if  they 
do  at  one  place,  they  do  not  elsewhere.  They  sometimes 
cross  each  other  at  small  angles ;  but  so  far  as  each  line 
extends,  it  follows  a  straight  course,  up  one  end  of  a  rising 
ground,  over  it,  and  down  the  other,  or  along  the  sides  of  a 
mound  or  hollow.  These  grooves  are  part  of  the  polished  sur- 
face, and  follow  the  track  of  ice.  Where  they  are  found  they 
mark  out  the  path  like  a  spoor,  and  they  are  of  many  kinds. 

3.  "  Sand-lines." — These  are  fine  as  a  hair,  and  are  like 
the  marks  of  the  finest  sandpaper ;  they  extend  a  few  inches 
only,  and  are  very  easily  overlooked. 

4.  "  Scores." — These  are  deeper,  and  are  sometimes  made 
by  hard  gravel,  or  by  points  in  larger  blocks,  fixed  in  moving 
ice.     Stones  have  been  found  under  glaciers,  fixed  in  ice,  and 
placed  in  the  end  of  a  new  groove.    Scores  are  like  a  firm  line, 
cut  with  a  small  gouge,  or  a  grooving  plane  with  a  round 
iron.     They  often  contain  sand-lines,  and  a  pencil  will  rest  in 
them.     They  fade  gradually  away,  but  many  are  two  or  three 
feet  long.     They  are  often  attributed  to  ploughs  and  harrows. 

5.  Grooves.— These  are  deeper,  a  walking-stick  will  rest 
in  them,  and  some  are  eight  or  ten  feet  long  ;  some  are  dinted, 
as  if  a  stone  had  started  and  rolled  while  making  the  groove. 
Cart-wheels  get  the  credit  of  these  sometimes  ;  they  often 
contain  scores  and  sand-lines. 


BRITISH  ISLES.  5 

6.  Deep  grooves. — These  are   long   rounded   hollows  ^^ 
which  would  fit  a  man's  body.     When  freshly  made  or  well 
preserved,  they  are  fluted,  and  often  contain  grooves,  scores, 
and  sand-lines.     They  generally  occur  where  great  pressure 
has  been  exerted  ;  on  the  weather-side  of  a  point ;  in  the  bed 
of  a  river-glacier ;  on  the  weather-side  of  an  island,  which  has 
become  a  hill ;  at  a  sharp  turn  in  a  glen  at  the  dot  S.  when 
moving  ice  has  been  forced  to  curve,  and  has  run  full  tilt 
against  the  bank,  as  in  Justedal  (vol.  i  p.  197)  and  Eomsdal. 
Ice  can  be  squeezed  into  a  mould ;  so  ice  under  pressure  is 
forced  into  hollows  ;  and  stones,  sand,  and  clay,  frozen  in  and 
fixed  in  ice,  deepen  the  groove,  and  flute  the  hollow  sides. 

7.  Hollovis  N — '. — These  are  but  larger  grooves,  and  often 
contain  all  the  others,  though  the  smaller  marks  may  be 
buried  in  bogs,  or  drowned  in  lakes. 

8.  Glens  ^-^. — These  are  marked  on  good  maps,  and  many 
of  them  seem  to  be  large  ice-grooves  worn  in  rock  by  glaciers, 
local  systems,  and  ocean-currents,  as  shown  above.      Many 
glens  may  have  been  hollows  produced  by  contortions  and 
disturbances   of  the   earth's   crust  at   first;   but   many  are 
hollows  worn  by  some  engine,  and  these  generally  retain  all 
the  marks  above  described,  though  they  may  also  contain  beds 
of  drift,  alluvial  plains  and  rivers,  lakes  and  arms  of  the  sea. 
If  glens  are  ruts  in  which  ice  moved,  for  the  reasons  above 
given,  their  direction  in  a  wide  tract  of  country  must  be  con- 
sidered in  spooring. 

Hollows  in  Southern  Scandinavia  (chap,  xviii.)  and  in  Ice- 
land (chap,  xxv.)  have  been  attributed  above  to  the  passage  of 
arctic  currents,  like  the  stream  which  has  been  followed  from 
Spitzbergen  to  Newfoundland.  All  these  are  but  grooves  of 
various  sizes  N ^,  which  large  engines  might  cut. 

9.  Roches  Moutonnees. — When  any  ground  surface  covers 


G  BALTIC  CURRENT. 

a  large  area,  it  is  pretty  sure  to  take  in  rocks  of  various  hard- 
ness, which  wear  unequally.  If  a  bit  of  wood  is  rubbed  with 
fine  sandpaper  and  a  soft  pad  the  grain  rises.  If  a  bit  of 
slate  is  rubbed,  the  beds  wear  unequally.  An  ice-ground  rock- 
surface  wears  unequally,  and  the  rock  takes  the  "mammil- 
lated "  form  which  suggested  the  Swiss  name  of  "  muttoned 
rocks."  They  look  like  bosses,  domes,  waves,  rounded  tables, 
saddle-backs,  hog-backs.  In  Devonshire,  rocks  of  this  shape 
go  by  the  name  of  "  tors."  The  word  is  good  ancient  British 
for  "  mound  ;"  so  it  is  used  as  shorter  than  the  usual  glacial 
slang  terms,  "  roches  moutonnees,"  and  "  mammillated  sur- 
faces." An  example  on  the  large  scale  is  drawn  on  the  margin 
of  the  map ;  the  A  shape  of  hills  in  Gairloch,  4000  feet  high, 
is  there  contrasted  with  the  curved  shape  ^-^,  which  only 
reaches  to  about  2000  feet.  Examples  symbolized  by  a  convex 
curve  are  given  in  woodcuts  in  the  preceding  pages.  This 
mark  may  be  used  to  determine  the  point  on  the  horizon  from 
which  the  grinding  force  moved.  As  a  rule,  the  longest  slope 
is  up-stream  or  up-hill,  and  the  steepest  end  down-hill  or 


FIG.  65.   A  SMALL  EXAMPLE  OF  "  ROCHE  MOUTONNEE,"  WALES. 

down-stream.  The  woodcut  was  made  as  an  illustration  of 
this  fact.  It  shows  the  form  of  a  small  slate  "  tor  "  in  Wales. 
The  arrow  shows  the  direction  in  which  ice  slid  down-hill, 
the  lines  show  cleavage,  the  direction  in  which  the  rock  breaks  \ 
the  case  was  selected  because  the  ice-plane  had  worked  against 
the  grain  of  the  stone,  and  had  made  fine  work  nevertheless. 
10.  Broken  tors.— If  the  smooth  surface  ends  abruptly,  the 


BRITISH  ISLES.  7 

broken  end  generally  faces  the  shelter.  Joints  and  bedding 
generally  weaken  the  stone  vertically,  and  a  force  acting  hori- 
zontally tends  to  push,  drag,  or  tear  away  the  end  of  a  worn 
ridge,  where  the  resistance  is  least.  After  a  time  the  upper 
edge  of  the  fracture  is  worn  and  rounded  off  by  a  force  which 
works  both  vertically  and  horizontally,  as  heavy  sliding  ice 
does.  Another  shove  breaks  off  another  slice  ;  and  so  a  rock  is 
worn  and  broken,  and  the  fragments  pushed  and  rolled  down- 
hill or  down-stream. 

11.  Jointed   tors. — The  weather-end  of  a  ridge  is  some- 


Fio.  66.   JOINTED  TORS,  CONNEMAEA. 

times  displaced  as  if  the  rock  had  been  broken  and  shaken 
loose  by  a  thrust  or  heavy  blow. 

The  woodcut  is  from  a  sketch  made  near  Inver  in  Con- 
nemara. 

The  rest  of  the  marks  in  the  neighbourhood  seem  to  prove 
that  ice  generally  moved  from  A  towards  B,  and  so  wore 
the  granite  into  long  ridges,  all  pointing  one  way.  In  this 
case  the  ends  next  A  have  been  carried  off;  several  ridges 
are  jointed  and  shaken  loose  ready  to  be  moved,  but  the 
sheltered  end  of  the  ridge  next  B  is  still  solid. 


BALTIC  CURKENT. 

o 

If  such  a  fracture  came  to  be  worn,  the  steep  end  would 
be  on  the  weather-side  at  first. 

So  far  these  marks  are  all  fixtures ;  they  are  in  situ  :- 
place  where  the  form  was  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock.     They 
are  tool-marks  of  glacial  denudation,  and  show  the  direction 
in  which  the  graving-tools  worked.     Even  large  hills  and 
whole  countries  seem  to  be  hewn  into  these  two  forms- 

Besides  these  fixed  marks  others  are  used. 

12.  Quarried  Hocks.— Large  stones  are  sometimes  partly 
hewn  and  ground,  and  partly  broken  out  of  the  solid  rock, 
and  pushed  a  few  inches  or  yards  from  their  beds,  so  that 
each  block  might  again  be  fitted  into  its  place. 

The  direction  in  which  the  stone  has  been  moved  is  that 
in  which  some  force  pushed  or  dragged  it,  and  many  of  these 
blocks  are  so  large  that  no  common  stream  of  water  could 
well  move  them. 

13.  Wandering  Uocks. — These  are  similar  stones  of  all 

sorts  and  sizes,  more  or  less  worn  or  fractured,  of  the  pattern 

above  described,  but  moved  further  from  the  quarry.     As  an 

example,  granite  blocks    have  been  moved    some    hundred 

yards  from  the  granite  hills  of  Arran,  and  are  left  upon  slate 

hills  1200  feet  high.     They  are  so  placed  that  they  could  not 

possibly  roll  to  the  spots  where  they  are  poised ;  but  they 

have  been  moved  so  far,  that  the  hole  from  which  the  stone 

was  taken  can  no  longer  be  identified.     Kane  gives  examples 

of  similar  transport  and  deposition  by  arctic  ice  in  Greenland, 

and  numerous  examples  of  transport  by  ice  are  mentioned 

above.    The  highest  wandering  boulders  yet  found  at  home, 

by  the  writer,  are  above  Loch  Ericht,  as  shown  on  the  margin 

of  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  496),  and  on  the  shoulder  of  Ben  Wyvis. 

The  last  is  a  large  mass  of  mica-schist  dropped  nearly  3000 


BRITISH  ISLES.  9 

feet  above  the  sea,  and  wholly  cut  off  from  any  hill  of  the 
same  material.  Antrim  flints  have  been  somehow  carried  to 
the  south  of  Ireland ;  zircon  syenite,  which  is  found  in  Nor- 
way, has  been  carried  to  Galloway  ;  and  rocks  supposed  to  be 
of  Scandinavian  origin  have  been  carried  to  Poland  and 
London.  If  the  kind  of  stone  thus  transported  can  be  iden- 
tified with  the  parent  rock,  the  direction  of  movement  is 
thereby  shown.  But  the  mark  taken  alone  is  uncertain. 

Granite  may  have  come  from  the  polar  basin,  or  from 
lands  which  have  disappeared.  The  test  is  good  for  land- 
glaciers  which  must  flow  one  way,  but  bad  for  ice-floats. 

If  a  similar  test  were  used  to  discover  the  prevailing 
direction  of  the  wind,  it  would  fail,  even  though  the  wind  may 
have  a  prevailing  direction.  Winds  in  the  British  Isles  drive 
thistle-down,  and  thistles  grow  where  the  seed  lights.  Some 
thistles  are  cultivated,  so  the  direction  in  which  a  new  variety 
spreads  from  field  or  garden  marks  the  spoor  of  the  wind.  If 
there  were  a  constant  wind,  thistles  would  spread  from  the 
garden  down-stream,  but  thistle-down,  which  moves  every 
way,  like  a  British  weathercock,  would  never  mark  out  the 
prevailing  south-west  wind  which  bends  British  trees.  Marks 
in  the  solid  rock  are  fixed,  and,  like  the  trees,  show  the  pre- 
vailing current ;  wandering  blocks,  like  flying  seeds,  may  show 
eddies  and  occasional  currents,  and  stray  ones  may  drift 
wherever  a  gale  can  blow  an  ice-float. 

14.  Perched  bloclcs  are  wandering  blocks,  placed  upon  hill- 
tops or  hill-shoulders,  or  balanced  one  upon  the  other,  or  on 
"  tors"  and  ridges,  on  points  where  they  must  have  been 
gently  placed  by  something  strong  enough  to  lift  them, 
and  carry  and  lay  them  down.  Ice  floating  over  a  hill 
might  drop  a  stone  on  the  top,  or  land-ice,  grounding  at  high- 
water,  might  place  a  stone,  and  break  away  when  the  tide 


10 


BALTIC  CURRENT. 


ebbed     The  woodcut  was  drawn  on  the  block,  and  represents 
a  stone  perched  near  Inver  in  Connemara.     There  are  many 


FIG.  67.  PERCHED  BLOCK,  CONNEMARA. 


other  examples  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  this  one  is  remark- 
able, for  it  looks  like  a  work  of  art. 


FIG.  C8.   DROPPED  BLOCK,  CONNEMARA. 


15.  Dropped  blocks. — These  seem  to  have  fallen  so  far  as 
to  break  where  they  fell.  The  cut  was  drawn  on  the  wood, 
and  represents  a  large  mass  of  granite  near  the  police  station 
at  Inver.  It  is  mentioned  again  below.  " 


BRITISH  ISLES.  11 

15.  Trains. — These  are  rows  of  large  stones,  some  per- 
ched, some  dropped  and  broken,  which  probably  fell  from 
drifting  ice.     If  so,  the  lines  point  out  the  course  of  the 
moving  rafts,  and  the  run  of  the  stream  which  moved  them,  but 
this  test  is  uncertain.     If  a  bit  of  a  glacier,  with  a  medial 
moraine,  were  launched,  and  then  stranded  and  melted,  the 
row  of  big  stones  might  cross  the  stream.     A  slice  of  ice-foot 
might  swing  any  way,  and  drop  its  wandering  beach  so  as  to 
leave  a  ridge  with  any  bearings  (vol.  i.  p.  404). 

16.  Drift. — This  word  applies  to  confused  heaps  of  stones, 
of  many  kinds,   shapes,  and  sizes  ;    some  larger  than  hay- 
cocks, others  as  big  as  casks,  kegs,  turnips,  apples,  nuts,  and 
peas,  generally  imbedded  in  sand  or  clay. 

17.  Old  moraines  are   land-ice   chips,   piled    in   conical 
mounds  at   the  mouths  of  glens,  and  composed  of  stones 
which  are  found  in  situ  in  higher  grounds. 

18.  A  terminal  moraine  marks  the  end  of  an  old  glacier 
(vol.  i.  p.  181.) 

19.  A  medial  moraine  is  similar  stuff  in  the  middle  of  a 
rock-groove,  generally  near  the  rivulet. 

20.  A  lateral  moraine  is  similar  stuff  on  one  or  both  sides 
of  a  glen.     Stones  on  the  right  come  from  hills  on  the  right, 
stones  on  the  left  from  the  left. 

21.  A  moraine  formed  in  water  must   differ  in   shape 
from  all  these,  and  samples  of  all  kinds  abound  in  the  Alps, 
Scandinavia,  Iceland,  and  the  British  Isles.     True  moraines 
indicate  land-glaciers,  and  are  sure  marks,  which  can  easily 
be    compared    with    moraines    on   existing  glaciers.      Sea- 
moraines,   formed  under  water,   cannot  be   compared  with 
existing  sea-glaciers,  but  their  shape  may  be  inferred  from 
models,  and  from  the  movements  of  land-ice  in  Spitzbergen, 
Greenland,  etc.  (chaps,  xxiii  to  xxvi.) 


12  BALTIC  CURRENT. 

These  are  all  specimens  of  "drift,"  but  the  term  is  generally 
used  to  express  piles  of  loose  rubbish,  widely  spread  over  a 
whole  country  or  continent,  in  glens  and  on  plains  and  hill-sides. 
The  formation  has  lately  been  divided  into  stratified  and  un- 
stratified,  and  in  America  it  has  been  subdivided  largely.  The 
lowest  beds  are  "  unstratified,"  contain  scratched  boulders,  and 
rest  upon  grooved  rocks.  The  upper  series  are  stratified,  that 
is  to  say,  packed  in  layers.  The  deposition  of  these  geological 
formations  has  still  to  be  explained.  According  to  one  theory, 
the  unstratified  drift  is  the  debris  of  land-ice,  and  the  stratified 
glacial  drift  was  dropped  by  floating  ice,  and  packed  by 
streams  of  water  in  a  deep  sea.  It  has  been  argued  above 
that  the  drift  is  the  moraine- work  of  large  floating  glaciers 
like  the  Arctic  Current,  with  its  icebergs  and  sea-ice. 

22.  JBoulders  which  belong  to  these  formations  are  known 
by  their  forms.  Those  which  belong  to  the  lower  boulder 
clay,  which  rests  upon  grooved  rocks,  are  often  washed  out  by 
the  sea,  or  by  rivers,  or  picked  out  by  men.  They  are  found 
on  beaches,  in  walls,  in  houses,  in  fields  newly  reclaimed. 
One  side  is  generally  flatter  than  the  rest  ;  and,  when  freshly 
moved,  the  polish  on  the  surface  is  nearly  as  fine  as  the  ma- 
terial is  capable  of  taking.  Striae  of  all  sizes  run  every  way, 
but  most  commonly  along  the  longest  axis  of  the  flattest  sur- 
face. It  seems  as  if  the  drift  were  the  polishing  powder  with 
which  the  rocks  were  ground,  left  in  the  tool-marks  of  the 
polishing  engine.  The  drift  seems  to  consist  of  stones  of  all 
sizes,  partially  rubbed  and  ground  to  clay,  frozen  into  a  con 
glomerate  and  pushed  onwards,  till  climate  changed  and  the 
ice  melted.  The  worn  stones  bear  marks  of  each  other  and  of 
the  rock  ;  the  rock  bears  marks  of  the  drift,  and  these  mark 
the  direction  in  which  the  drift  was  last  moved.  If  most  of 
the  stones  in  any  patch  of  drift  belong  to  any  known  forma- 


BRITISH  ISLES.  13 

tion,  the  line  of  movement  is  shown  by  the  nature  and  posi- 
tion of  the  stones  moved.  For  example,  the  majority  of  the 
stones  in  a  hill  of  drift  near  the  sea,  at  Galway,  are  bits  of 
scratched  mountain  limestone,  and  that  kind  of  stone  is  found 
in  situ  to  the  north-east.  The  direction  in  which  this  hill 
of  drift  moved  was  from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  because  striae  and  loose 
stones  point  to  the  same  conclusion.  But  the  hill  also  con- 
tains specimens  of  many  other  rocks  ;  so  it  may  have  belonged 
to  ice  which  had  sailed  far,  like  that  which  is  drifting  along 
the  coast  of  Labrador,  loaded  both  with  foreign  and  native  drift. 

23.  Weathering. — As  all  kinds  of  rock  wear  when  exposed 
to  the  atmosphere,  ice-marks  on  rocks  and  boulders  wear  out 
when  the  dressed  surface  is  bare. 

First,  the  fine  polished  skin  gets  rough  and  pitted,  as  rain 
and  air  and  lichens  decompose  parts  of  the  stone.  Then 
"  striae  "  wear  out  in  the  order  of  their  depth.  Then  deep 
grooves  become  shallow,  from  the  weathering  of  their  sides 
and  edges.  Then  larger  grooves,  and  hollows,  and  tors,  and 
ridges  between  them,  assume  new  shapes.  Beds  and  joints 
weather  and  widen,  till  an  old  tor  looks  like  a  pile  of  stones. 
Then  valleys  and  hills  change  their  form.  Rivers  dig  smooth 
pits  and  jagged  angular  ruts  in  hill-sides,  and  these  split,  and 
crumble,  and  fall,  and  join,  leaving  weathered  glens,  peaks, 
and  needles  at  last.  This  spoiling  process  may  be  watched, 
and  the  work  may  be  seen  in  all  stages,  in  the  mountains  of 
Northern  Europe.  But  still  the  last  bit  of  an  ice-ground 
surface  may  sometimes  be  found  left  at  the  very  top  of  a  hill, 
whose  sides  have  crumbled  and  fallen  away  to  make  heaps  of 
talus,  cliffs,  and  cairns  of  stone. 

The  ridge  , — s  or  the  peak  A  is  least  worn  by  falling 
water,  so  it  lasts  longest. 

24.  Shape, — Because  of  weathering,  old  ice-marks  are  not  to 


14  BALTIC  CURRENT. 

be  found  without  search.  But  so  long  as  any  part  of  the  out- 
line of  an  ice-ground  hill  retains  its  shape,  a  practised  eye  can 
detect  ice-work;  and  a  careful  search  at  likely  spots  will 
generally  unearth  some  one  or  all  of  the  marks  above  de- 
scribed. Two  or  three  will  suffice  to  determine  the  direction 
in  which  ice  moved,  and  a  few  well-chosen  spots  will  serve 
to  map  out  a  large  district. 

25.  Mocks. — Different  rocks  weather  in  different  ways  and 
at  different  rates. 

It  is  hopeless  to  search  for  any  but  large  marks  upon 
coarse  materials  like  sandstone.  Limestones,  unless  protected 
from  rain-water  by  clay,  lose  the  marks  readily.  Granites 
protected  from  the  air  retain  even  sand-lines,  and  the  finest 
polish ;  when  exposed  they  become  rough,  and  some  kinds 
crumble.  On  some  granite-hills  in  Arran  even  deep  grooves 
are  obliterated,  though  slate-hills  close  to  them  retain  a  fine 
polish  and  the  whole  series  of  ice-marks. 

Where  quartz  rock  has  not  split  up,  it  retains  the  finest 
marks  ;  but  quartz  rock  is  very  liable  to  break  and  fall  away. 
So  marks  on  quartz  are  rare. 

Trap,  whin,  and  greenstone,  etc.,  last  well,  retain  striae,  and 
lose  the  polish,  but  some  kinds  of  trap  weather  easily  and 
crumble  to  dust. 

Hard  blue  clay-slate  appears  to  resist  the  weather  best  of 
all  Ice-marks  still  exist  on  bare  slate-rocks  in  Wales,  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland,  which  could  hardly  be  distinguished  from 
marks  on  rocks  beneath  existing  glaciers. 

It  follows  that  the  best  material  for  inscribed  monuments 
is  the  slate  which  still  retains  fine  sand-lines,  made  when 
British  hills  were  2000  feet  deeper  in  the  sea,  or  up  to  their 
shoulders  in  land-ice. 

26.  Searching. — In  searching  a  country  for  old  ice-marks, 


BRITISH   ISLES.  15 

it  is  best  to  look  out  for  a  hill  of  slate,  quartz,  or  trap,  which 
has  a  rounded  outline  -- — v. 

Try  the  hill-top  first  for  old  marks,  then  beat  the  sides 
about  burns,  new-made  turf-dykes,  quarries,  and  other  such 
places  where  the  rock  has  been  laid  bare.  If  no  marks  of  a 
general  movement  can  be  found  at  the  upper  levels,  try  the 
glens  for  the  spoor  of  glaciers,  and  such  small  game. 

There  are  few  parts  of  Northern  Europe  where  an  old 
scratch  may  not  be  found  by  careful  searching. 

27.  Copying. — Bock-surfaces  and  ice-grooves  cannot  be 
carried  away,  and  specimens  are  bulky,  heavy,  and  hard  to 
carry  when  quarried.  Drawings  take  a  long  time  to  make, 
photographic  apparatus  are  grievous  impediments,  but  rock- 
surfaces  may  be  quickly  and  accurately  copied  thus  : — 

Lay  a  sheet  of  foolscap  on  the  rock  with  the  longest 
edges  in  the  meridian,  as  nearly  as  a  compass  or  the  sun 
will  show.  Hold  the  paper  fast  and  rub  it  with  a  pencil,  a 
bullet,  a  coin,  a  burnt  stick,  a  bit  of  black  coal,  or  a  bit  of 
heel-ball.  The  pattern  below  will  be  copied  : — raised  points 
dark  ;  hollows  light.  The  experiment  may  be  tried  on  the 
cover  of  this  book,  which  is  copied  from  a  rubbing  made 
from  a  striated  rock  beside  the  "  Queen's  Drive,"  on  Arthur's 
Seat,  at  Edinburgh.  The  copy  and  the  original  may  be  com- 
pared, so  as  to  test  the  method ;  and  then  other  copies,  and 
descriptions  of  marks,  will  have  more  value  if  the  paper,  the 
book,  and  the  rock,  are  found  to  correspond  when  compared. 

When  the  copy  is  made  mark  the  north,  and  from  the 
centre  of  a  circle  draw  arrows  pointing  at  any  hill  or  hollow 
which  might  influence  the  movements  of  glaciers ;  or  currents 
of  water  moving  from  the  horizon  to  the  spot,  at  the  level. 
Small  outline  sketches  may  be  drawn  at  the  ends  of  the 
arrows  if  there  is  time. 

Note  the  name  of  the  place  ;  the  names  of  conspicuous 


16  BALTIC  CURRENT. 

points  on  the  horizon  ;  their  bearings  are  given  by  the  arrows. 
Note  the  height  of  the  spot  by  aneroid  barometer ;  the  dis- 
tance by  pedometer  from  the  last  place  of  observation  in  a 
day's  walk ;  the  kind  of  rock ;  the  dip  and  strike  by  clino- 
meter and  compass ;  the  slope  of  trees,  and  anything  else 
worthy  of  note  ;  and  do  all  this  as  much  as  possible  without 
moving  the  paper  from  the  rock. 

The  finished  sheet  is  a  portable,  accurate,  pictorial  record 
of  a  set  of  observations  at  one  spot,  which  may  be  transferred 
to  a  map,  or  otherwise  combined  at  leisure.  Eanged  in  order 
with  dates,  each  record  becomes  a  page  in  a  journal.  The 
woodcut  below  is  a  reduced  copy  of  a  sheet  which  was  thus 
prepared,  on  a  rock-surface,  on  the  hill-shoulder  which  is 
represented  on  the  margin  of  the  map  at  the  end  of  vol.  i. 

The  dark  marks  within  the  circle  are  ridges  >• — s  between 
striae  ^-^  on  a  very  smooth  surface  of  fine-grained  hard 
quartz  rock.  The  direction  in  which  the  engine  moved  is 
shown  by  the  arrow.  The  loch  is  Loch  Maree  in  Scotland, 
and  the  sea  horizon  is  open  to  the  W.  of  K,  and  to  the  E.  of 
S.  ;  to  Greenland,  and  to  Scandinavia.  To  the  west  are  tall 
hills  of  the  A  pattern,  and  higher  ice-ground  rocks  of  the 
' — x  pattern ;  to  the  east  is  a  deep  ice-ground  glen  x — '  running 
parallel  to  the  striae,  and  beyond  it  are  high  hills  of  the  ^ — v 
pattern,  and  higher  hills  of  the  A  shape,  and  numerous  ice- 
marks,  none  of  which  point  at  the  peaks. 

The  dip  of  the  rock  is  towards  D,  the  white  marks  in  the 
rubbing  are  chinks  and  fractures. 

At  this  spot  on  the  backbone  of  Scotland,  at  1800  feet 
above  the  present  sea-level,  ice  moved  past  peaks  of  the 
A  pattern  over  hills  of  the  x — s  pattern,  from  the  direction  of 
the  Baltic  towards  the  Atlantic,  horizontally.  The  spoor  is  so 
fresh  that  sand-lines  need  a  fine  lens  to  make  them  out, 
while  other  grooves  would  hold  the  mast  of  a  ship  ;  and  the 


BRITISH  ISLES. 


17 


hill-side   is   thus  worn,   for   a   height  of  nearly  2000   feet, 
throughout  an  area  of  many  square  miles. 

If  this  plan  of  copying  had  been  devised  twenty  years 
sooner,  observations  made  would  have  had  more  value.  With 
such  a  plain  spoor  as  this  ice-tracking  is  easy  work. 


Sea  Horizon,     River  Ewe.     Loch  Maree. 


A  A  Peaks  of  Ben 
Ghuis,  about  tpcafeet. 
Weathered  quartz. 


- —  Carrie.  At  1800 
feet  marks  are  perfect, 
from  S.  30  E.  to  N.  30 

W.  on  gray  quartz 
crossing  the  month  of 
the  carrie. 


A   Top  of  Ben  Eith 
about  nooofeet. 
Weathered  quarts: 
and  talus. 


A  Beyond  the  glen. 
Top  of  Ben  Slioch, 
about  4000  feet. 
Weathered. 


Pass.    Head  of 
nn  Bianastle, 


perfect,  N.  60°  £.  ; 
gray  quartz. 


-—x  Ridge.     Top  of 
Ben  Mhonaidh, 
2iy>fcet;  marks 
•weathered,  N.  60°  E. 

gneiss.     Pass 

over  the  "watershed  of 
Scotland  to  Dornoch. 


•—-  Hill-shoulder,  1800 
feet;  bare  quartz ;  marks 
Perfect,  S.  iff  E.  to  N.  40° 
W.,  at  right  angles  to  the 
high  marks  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  glen  on  Ken 
Mhonaidh  and  Gleann 
Bianastle.    Nearly  parallel 
to  horizontal  grooves  all 
the  -way  to  the  bottom  of  the 
glen,  about  1600  feet. 


-— •  Pass.     Head  of  Strath 
Bran,  about  8oo_/i-et. 

Terraces  at  Achnasheen, 
aoozit  700  ;  watershed  of 
Scotland.     Thence  ice- 
marks  follow  the  run  of 
the  water  north  eastwards 
to  Ben  Wyvis  and  to  the 
sea  at  the  Conan.     Peak  (!) 
beyond  Strath  Bran. 


FIG.  69.   FOREST  OF  GAIRLOCH.    Ice-marks  on  a  hill-shoulder  '— -  of  gray  quartz,  at  about 
T350  feet  above  the  sea  ;  level  with  the  opposite  edge  of  the  glen  — •, 

VOL.   II.  C 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  2— BRITISH  ISLES  2 — IRELAND  1 — CONNEMARA 
GALWAV  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 

IN  the  map  of  the  northern  hemisphere  (end  of  vol.  i.),  a  series 
of  curves  are  drawn  from  the  Pole  towards  the  Equator. 

The  space  between  two  of  these  corresponds  roughly  to 
the  existing  Arctic  Current  between  Spitzbergen  and  New- 
foundland ;  and  to  low  grounds  in  North  America  which  are 
strewed  with  glacial  drift,  and  where  many  large  hollows  and 
small  ice-rnarks  on  shore  point  south-westwards.  The  space 
between  another  couple  of  curves  includes  Novaya  Zemlya, 
part  of  Russia,  Scandinavia,  Denmark,  and  the  British  Isles. 
It  corresponds  to  the  supposed  course  of  an  arctic  Baltic 
Current,  which,  according  to  theory,  only  ceased  to  flow  south- 
west in  this  tract  when  the  Scandinavian  isthmus  rose  and 
turned  the  stream.  In  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  232),  similar  curves 
are  drawn,  and  one  ends  in  the  sea  at  Galway. 

In  a  systematic  attempt  to  test  the  soundness  of  this  theory 
founded  on  marks  in  Scandinavia,  a  search  should  begin  as 
far  to  the  south-west  as  possible.  A  stick  laid  in  an  ice- 
groove  on  a  hill-top  points  out  the  way,  and  it  should  be 
honestly  followed.  If  it  leads  to  the  marks  already  men- 
tioned, and  the  whole  series  point  one  way,  the  Baltic  Current 
theory  may  be  launched  like  a  big  boulder  to  find  its  own 
resting-place  amongst  other  rough  blocks. 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 


10 


The  west  coast  of  Ireland  is  at  the  tail  of  the  fossil 
stream  ;  so  the  west  of  Ireland  is  the  place  to  search  for 
marks  of  ice-floats  like  those  which  now  cumber  the  Straits 
of  Belleisle. 

London  can  be  got  at  from  any  part  of  the  world,  and 
the  western  coast  of  Ireland  is  very  easily  reached  from 
London,  between  morning  and  midnight. 


Fir..  70.   CLOCH  CORRIL  ANL>  THK  TWELVE  PINS  OF  COXXEMARA. 
Drawn  from  nature  on  the  wood,  1863.    (Reversed). 

Forms  characteristic  of  the  action  of  ice  are  well  seen  by 
the  way.  Eunning  into  Chester  by  railway,  the  N.E.  corner 
of  Wales  appears  in  profile,  and  on  leaving  the  station  the  hills 
are  conspicuous.  They  rise  gradually  from  a  plain  strewed 
with  glacial  drift  and  water-worn  boulders,  and  from  the  sea, 
They  are  green  and  cultivated  ;  their  bones  are  hid  beneath 
a  skin  of  clay  and  soil,  and  covered  by  a  rich  mantle  of  green 
and  yellow  ;  but  rounded  rocks  appear,  as  the  skeleton  does  in 
a  living  creature.  Where  a  quarry  or  railway  cutting  has 


20  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

torn  a  rent,  or  cut  a  gash,  the  sandstone  frame  appears  broken 
and  angular  ;  but  the  hills  are  all  rounded  and  smooth. 

This  is  denudation,  but  not  the  work  of  water.  There  is 
not  one  ravine  V  between  Chester  and  Rhyll,  nor  is  there  a 
cliff  L,  though  the  line  runs  over  a  raised  beach  between  the 
sea  and  an  old  margin  all  the  way. 

At  Conway  the  hills  are  steeper  and  higher,  but  the  glens 
still  are  rounded,  and  in  them  fresh  ice-marks  abound,  as  will 
be  shown  below. 

Near  the  Menai  Bridge  glens  have  the  peculiar  forms  of 
glaciation.  Many  quarries  and  cuttings,  faults  and  fractures 
in  the  slate,  show  that  the  rounded  outlines  of  these  hills  and 
dens  are  not  due  to  fracture  and  disturbance,  but  to  some 

O 

wearing  action ;  and  boulders  and  beds  of  clay  all  tell  of  ice. 

The  KE.  end  of  the  Snowdon  range  is  seen  in  profile  from 
Anglesea.  It  has  a  sloping  outline  s-*-.  like  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  Wales  ;  but  the  rocks  are  harder,  the  slope 
is  steeper,  and  some  hill-tops  are  broken  and  weathered. 

Anglesea  is  all  ice-ground.  Near  Holyhead,  amongst 
some  drifting  sand-hills,  glaciated  rocks  rear  their  heads 
amongst  the  bent.  They  are  smooth  and  round  like  the 
sand-dunes,  and  their  longest  slope,  like  that  of  the  hills,  is 
still  towards  the  NE.  The  waves  which  roll  in  from  the 
S.W.,  driven  by  the  wind,  have  their  longest  slope  towards 
the  S.W.  If  Wales  were  a  new  country,  the  shape  of  it  would 
suggest  the  glaciation  which  is  proved  by  a  closer  search. 

From  Dublin  to  Galway  the  country  is  boggy,  low,  and 
flat.  A  depression  of  500  feet  would  sink  it  beneath  the 
Atlantic. 

The  first  glance  at  the  country  about  Galway  shows  the 
action  of  ice.  Large  boulders  piled  and  scattered  broadcast 
everywhere,  low  rounded  hills,  beds  of  clay  stuck  full  of 


CONNEMARA — GAL  WAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.  21 

rounded  stones,  walls  built  of  boulders — all  suggest  glacial 
denudation  on  the  large  scale  ;  but  no  high  mountains  are  to 
be  seen  to  account  for  land-glaciers.  Close  to  the  town,  on 
the  beach,  but  above  high-water  mark,  numerous  ground  rocks 
show  smaller  ice-marks  distinctly.  The  scores  and  grooves 
point  from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  or  thereby.  At  Blackrock,  the 
favourite  bathing-place,  these  guides  point  out  into  Galway 
Bay,  where  the  track  is  lost  in  the  Atlantic. 

About  three  miles  to  the  west  of  the  town  the  sea  has 
undermined  a  long  round-backed  hill.  It  is  broken  short  ofl' 
at  the  end,  leaving  a  perpendicular  cliff  about  50  feet  high, 
with  a  beach  of  boulders  under  it.  The  hill  is  called  Cnoc-a- 
Bhldka  or  Blake's  Hill,  and  the  point  Cnoc-na-Carrig  or  the 
Hill  of  the  Stones. 

The  sea-cliff  is  a  section  of  the  boulder-clay,  and  ice-work 
of  the  most  striking  character.  A  matrix  of  hard,  compact, 
bluish-yellow  gray  clay  is  stuck  full  of  rounded  "  subangular " 
blocks  ;  some  are  three  or  four  feet  long,  others  as  big  as  a 
man's  head,  others  small,  like  apples,  nuts,  and  peas  ;  and  the 
beach  is  made  of  them.  They  stand  out  from  the  clay  where 
the  rain  has  washed  it  down,  like  plums  in  an  iced  pudding. 
Every  stone  is  scratched,  grooved,  and  scored  ;  and  the  marks 
are  as  plain  as  if  they  had  just  been  made  with  rasps,  files, 
and  sandpaper.  Many  surfaces  are  polished  so  brightly  that 
they  shine  in  the  sunlight.  New-fallen  stones,  stones  in  situ, 
and  stones  picked  out  of  this  cliff,  all  are  polished,  ground, 
scored,  and  scratched  in  many  directions,  and  on  all  sides. 
There  are  specimens  of  red  and  yellow,  coarse  and  fine  granite, 
fossiliferous  dark  blue  limestone,  and  other  rocks.  The  hill  is 
a  museum  of  transported  stones,  gathered  long  ago  by  wander- 
ing ice,  and  pushed  into  Galway  Bay. 

Near  the  place,  specimens  of  the  same  stones,  weathered 


•1-1 


BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 


and  water-worn,  may  be  compared  with  these  boulders.  In 
the  dykes,  where  mountain  limestone  has  been  weathered, 
fossils  stand  out  in  relief,  showing  the  minutest  detail.  In 
the  cliff  where  the  ground  surface  has  been  preserved  from 
weather  by  hard  clay,  fossils  can  only  be  distinguished  by 
their  colour.  On  the  beach  away  from  the  cliff,  rolled  pebbles 
are  rounder  and  dinted;  the  scratches  have  disappeared. 
Where  these  sea-rolled  stones  have  been  weathered,  they 
retain  the  finished  oval  shape  which  sea-waves  gave  them, 
after  ice  had  blocked  them  out.  The  waterworn  and  the 
weathered  surfaces  are  wholly  different  from  the  old  ice- 
mark.  Here  then,  at  the  most  western  coast- line  of 
northern  Europe,  are  the  works  of  ice ;  and  here  too  the 
prevailing  S.W.  direction  of  the  wind  is  pointed  out  by  grow- 
ing trees. 

If  the  direction  of  the  wind  is  pointed  out  by  a  weather- 
cock, and  its  prevailing  direction  by  a  bent  tree  on  a  hill,  it  is 
equally  well  shown  on  a  plain  by  sand-drifts  or  grass  tufts. 
If  the  direction  in  which  a  large  ice-system  moved  is  well 
shown  by  grooves  upon  hill-tops,  it  is  equally  well  shown 
by  grooves  on  a  wide  plain,  where  there  are  no  high  hills  to 
interfere  with  the  general  movement.  So  at  Galway  the  stria? 
tell  of  a  general  system  of  glacial  action,  not  of  local  glaciers. 
On  the  tops  of  low  hills,  by  road-sides,  in  fields,  and  generally 
in  the  neighbourhood,  whatever  the  kind  of  rock  laid  bare 
may  be,  grooves  have  a  general  KE.  and  S.W.  direction. 

One  end  of  a  long  stick  laid  in  a  groove  points  N.N.E.  or 
N.  K,  and  the  other  end  aims  a  little  to  the  outside  of  Black 
Head,  past  the  end  of  the  Clare  mountains. 

This  direction  agrees  neither  with  the  slope  of  the  country 
nor  with  the  flow  of  rivers,  nor  with  the  present  run  of  the 
tides  ;  it  only  agrees  with  a  system  of  large  hollows  which 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.      23 

cross  Ireland,  and  are  marked  as  valleys  and  sea-lochs  on  the 
best  Irish  map. 

The  movement  was  not  a  result  of  sliding,  for  there  are 
no  hills  to  the  N.E.  of  Galway  from  which  ice  could  slide. 
This  is  no  part  of  a  local  glacier  system,  but  there  are  clear 
traces  of  the  general  movement,  which  also  left  its  marks  on 
Scotland,  Yorkshire,  Wales,  and  Devonshire,  as  will  be  shown 
below. 

A  good  map  of  Ireland  shows  the  large  grooves  which 
correspond  to  the  curves  on  the  map.  The  northern  and 
southern  end  of  the  country  is  crossed  by  diagonal  valleys, 
whose  general  direction  agrees  with  that  of  the  Menai  Strait, 
the  Caledonian  Canal,  the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal,  and  other 
Scotch  and  English  hollows.  The  ice-stream  certainly  floated 
over  the  low  grounds  of  Ireland,  and  part  of  it  poured  out 
between  the  mountains  of  Clare  and  Connemara,  through 
Galway  Bay. 

Curves  drawn  from  Galway  in  the  direction  pointed  out  by 
ice-grooves  upon  hill-tops  near  the  town,  cross  Ireland  by  way 
of  Camck-on-Shannon,  the  end  of  Lough  Conn,  and  north  of 
Belfast  Lough.  They  pass  between  the  Mull  of  Ceantire  and 
Portpatrick,  into  the  Firth  of  Clyde.  In  Ireland  they  pass 
over  a  low  flat  country,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  lakes,  canals, 
and  lines  of  railway.  In  Scotland  they  join  a  system  of  large 
wide  glens,  which  traverse  that  country.  Let  this  be  called 
the  Galway  curve,  and  traced  back  as  far  as  it  will  lead. 

Travelling  northwards,  other  curves  should  be  crossed  if 
this  were  a  general  movement.  From  Galway  to  Ouglitcmrd, 
the  road  skirts  the  north-eastern  side  of  a  low  range  of  hills 
in  Moyculleen,  and  coasts  Lough  Comb.  The  hills  on  this 
side  are  all  rounded  and  strewed  with  large  wrecked  boulders, 
hut  on  the  other  side  they  are  steeper,  and  the  rock  is  bare. 


24  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

The  low  country  beyond  the  lake,  the  shores  of  the  lake, 
and  the  lake  itself,  all  are  strewed  with  enormous  stones  and 
patches  of  clay.  Low  down,  boulders  and  gravel  are  every- 
where, but  the  hill-sides  are  generally  rock  with  a  thin  cover- 
ing of  soil  or  peat,  or  bare. 

Where  limestone  is  the  foundation  of  the  country,  the 
general  outline  of  glacial  denudation  alone  remains.  The 
rock  is  furrowed  and  drilled  into  the  most  fantastic  shapes, 
apparently  by  water  and  weather. 

When  granite  is  the  rock,  the  general  form  is  nearly  the 
same,  and  the  surface  is  still  weathered.  Crystals  stand 
up  separately,  veins  stand  out  and  run  over  the  backs  of 
rounded  tors  and  ridges.  The  veins  are  sharp  and  angular,  but 
the  rocks  are  all  round  like  Devonshire  tors,  and  the  hills  to 
the  very  top  retain  shapes  into  which  ice  ground  them  x — •* . 

Beyond  Oughterard  a  road  leads  over  a  low  col  down  into 
a  wild  tract  of  country  where  the  rocks  are  bare  or  smothered 
in  bogs. 

The  surface  is  generally  weathered,  so  that  strire  and 
grooves  are  hard  to  find,  but  when  the  morning  sun  is  shin- 
ing across  the  grooves,  the  marks  come  out  clearly,  as  blue 
lines  of  shadow  on  long  ridges  of  warm  gray  granite,  which 
raise  their  backs  in  the  dark  moor. 

Low  down,  at  the  sea-level,  and  on  hills  about  400  feet 
high,  the  direction  is  from  N.N.E.  or  N.E.  to  the  opposite 
points. 

At  furness  Lake,  which  lies  close  beneath  the  Moyculleen 
Hills,  grooves,  ridges  of  granite,  and  trains  of  large  stones, 
point  the  same  way. 

The  cut  was  sketched  from  nature.  It  shows  part  of  the 
Moyculleen  Hills,  on  which  ice-marks  are  plain,  and  part  of 
the  low  country,  which  is  strewed  with  drift  and  trains  of 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 


25 


blocks.  The  district  is  one  of  the  best  samples  of  an  ice- 
ground  country  that  is  to  be  found  in  Western  Europe. 

These  grooves  do  not  aim  at  the  hills  ;  they  run  along  the 
hill-foot,  and  aim  at  a  large  groove  ^-^.  A  pass  about  500 
feet  high. 

At  Sgrwb  Bridge  the  direction  is  still  the  same  ;  at  Inver 
Lodge,  at  Luggecn  Lough,  at  Lough  Corrib,  the  low  grooves 


Fio.  71.    TRAIN  OF  BLOCKS  NEAR  FURNESS  LAKE  AND  MOVCULLEEN  HILLS. 
Drawn  from  nature  on  the  wood,  18C3.    (Reversed.) 

all  point  nearly  one  way.  They  do  not  aim  at  mountains 
which  surround  the  low  bogs  of  Connemara  and  the  sea- 
lochs,  but  point  at  glens  which  lead  to  the  low  country  beyond 
the  hills,  and  to  great  lakes.  One  of  these  mountains  stands 
alone.  It  goes  by  the  name  of  Cnoc  Ourid,  and  is  about  1300 
feet  high.  It  is  about  two  miles  from  SJian  Folayh,  which  is 
N.N.E.  of  it,  2000  feet  high,  and  the  end  of  the  Mam  Turk 
range.  A  valley  more  than  1000  feet  deep  separates  Cnoc 
Ourid  from  the  higher  range,  and  Shan  Folagh  is  joined  to 


26  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

Mam  Turk  by  a  coL  To  the  S.S.W.  is  a  third  isolated  hill 
called  Cnoc  Mordan,  and  about  1100  feet  high.  It  is  separated 
from  Cnoc  Ourid  by  a  boggy  plain  more  than  four  miles  wide, 
and  but  little  above  the  sea-level.  To  the  S.E.  is  a  range 
of  low  hills  in  Moyculleen,  which  makes  one  side  of  a  block  of 
high  land,  and  is  separated  from  Shan  Folagli  by  the  glen  of 
Oughterard. 

These  four  high  points  are  well  situated  for  ascertaining 
the  direction  of  the  general  movement,  which  has  so  ground 
and  altered  the  whole  face  of  this  country. 

Cnoc  Ourid.— In  mounting  Cnoc  Ourid  from  the  north 
side  from  Eusheen  Lake,  the  rock  is  seen  to  be  upheaved  and 
strangely  contorted.  It  contains  fragments  of  other  rocks, 
broken  and  rounded,  and  is  folded  about  the  fragments  in 
waving  lines.  Ice  polished  the  rock  across  the  edge  of  the 
beds,  and  the  surface  has  been  weathered  so  as  to  leave  the 
structure  of  the  rock  in  low  relief.  Upon  ridges  and  domes 
of  this  gray  moss-grown  gneiss  large  boulders  are  perched. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  deep  grooves  are  well  preserved, 
and  they  point  at  Mam  Turk  and  Shan  Folagh,  past  the 
shoulder  of  Cnoc  Ourid.  Here  then  are  the  works  of  cold  and 
heat — contorted  gneiss,  upheaved  and  altered  by  fluid  granite, 
ground  down  by  ice,  and  weathered  afterwards.  Five  hundred 
feet  up  the  hill  the  rocks  are  all  of  the  same  pattern  as  those 
in  the  plain  below,  and  on  them  rest  large  angular  blocks  of 
gneiss,  and  smaller  boulders  of  various  hard  rocks — quartz, 
greenstone,  etc.  These  last  must  have  travelled  far.  Eight 
hundred  feet  up  is  a  large  block  of  gray  trap  freshly  broken, 
and  near  it  is  a  block  unbroken,  and  perched  upon  a  rounded 
saddle  of  gneiss.  Eleven  hundred  and  sixty  feet  up,  on  the  top 
of  the  northern  shoulder,  strire  and  grooves  are  well  preserved 
on  gneiss.  They  point  N.N.E.  at  the  end  of  the  higher  range 


CONNEMARA — GAL  WAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.  27 

beyond  the  valley,  and  S.S.W.  out  of  Camus  Bay  at  the 
Atlantic.  These  marks  are  unlike  those  which  are  made  by 
river-glaciers  ;  they  are  like  writing  made  by  a  shaking  hand, 
for  they  waver  and  vary  slightly  in  direction,  so  as  to  cross 
each  other  at  a  small  angle. 

Thirteen  hundred  feet  up,  by  aneroid  barometer,  on  the  top, 
the  view  is  wild  and  desolate.  Lakes  appear  to  lie  in  every  pos- 
sible direction,  in  a  wilderness  of  water,  stone,  and  bog,  which 
fades  away  into  a  shallow  sea,  full  of  low  islands,  stones,  and 
rocks,  scattered  broadcast  in  bays  and  sea-lochs.  Galway 
Bay  is  seen  over  Moyculleen ;  Lough  Comb  and  Lougli 
Mask,  and  a  wide  stretch  of  low  land,  are  seen  past  the 
shoulder  of  Shan  Folagh.  There  is  no  hill  far  or  near  to 
account  for  glaciation  by  land-ice  at  this  spot  and  in  this 
direction,  and  yet  ice-marks  are  there,  and  well  preserved.  A 
stick  laid  in  a  groove  points  S.W.  by  S.  at  the  shoulder  of 
Cnoc  Mordan,  out  of  Camus  Bay,  at  the  sea-horizon,  and  N.E. 
by  N.  through  a  notch  in  the  hills,  at  a  sea  of  lakes  and  bogs 
bounded  by  a  land-horizon  as  flat  as  the  sea  The  notch  is 
the  col  which  joins  Shan  Folagh  to  the  Mam  Turk  range,  and 
the  nearest  hill-top  of  equal  height  is  beneath  the  horizon,  if 
not  beyond  the  sea.  Descending  the  hill  on  its  eastern  side, 
a  block  is  perched  at  1200  feet ;  and  near  it,  where  the  wood- 
cut was  sketched,  a  solitary  goat  had  perched  himself  upon  a 
saddleback  of  gneiss.  His  family  and  friends  were  scattered 
about  picking  up  a  scanty  supper  amongst  the  bare  rocks. 
They  kept  peering  at  the  stranger,  bleating,  stretching  their 
long  necks,  wagging  their  gray  beards,  and  flourishing  their 
horns  over  the  sky  line.  The  click-click  of  a  sparring-match 
between  two  old  bucks  was  the  only  sound  besides  the  sough 
of  the  evening  wind,  and  the  red  light  of  sunset  made  the  old 
gray  rocks  and  their  gray  inhabitants  glow  like  fire. 


28 


BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 


It  was  a  different  scene  when  the  block  was  dropped  by 
ice  1200  feet  above  the  present  sea-level,  and  when  ice  floated 
over  the  top  of  Cnoc  Ourid.  This  hill  is  joined  by  a  low  col 
about  500  feet  high  to  a  range  of  low  granite  and  gneiss  hiUs, 
on  the  S.E.  At  the  top  of  this  col  the  grooves  point  N.E. 
by  K  over  a  wide  flat  moor,  which  leads  to  Lough  Comb 
and  Lough  Mask.  There  is  no  high  hill  in  that  direction  for 
many  miles.  A  line  drawn  on  the  map  passes  north  of  Bel- 
fast. Patches  of  hard  yellow  clay  are  deposited  in  sheltered 
hollows  on  this  col,  and  these  contain  small  boulders  of  black 


FIG.  72.    PERCHED  BLOCK  ox  ROUNDED  TOK,  CNOC  OCRID,  T200  feet. 

limestone,  mica  schist,  very  hard  trap,  quartz  rock,  gray 
porphyry,  and  other  rocks  which  are  foreign  to  this  hill,  but 
which  may  be  found  in  the  direction  of  the  grooves.  The 
limestone  in  particular  is  like  rocks  near  Oughterard  on  the 
low  shores  of  Lough  Corrib,  and  the  trap  is  like  Antrim 
trap.  The  north-eastern  slope  of  the  hill  and  of  the  col  is  less 
steep  than  the  south-western. 

Cnoc  Mordan,  the  second  hill,  is  even  more  isolated.  It 
makes  the  north-western  horn  of  Camus  Bay,  and  no  hill  of 
the  same  height  is  near  it. 

At  the  sea-level  the  stria-  are  well  seen  ;  they  point  N.E. 
by  N.,  S.W.  by  S.  Large  granite  boulders  are  scattered  about 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTP011T  CURVES. 


29 


iii  the  moor.  One  shaped  like  a  chipped  pebble,  near  Inver- 
more  Lake,  measures  18  x  12  x  9  feet,  and  many  are  still 
larger.  Ascending  the  north-eastern  slope,  the  angle  is  less 
steep  than  the  south-western  side  of  Cnoc  Ourid.  There  are 
rounded  surfaces  and  perched  blocks  to  the  very  top.  At 
600  feet  the  grooves  are  N.W.  by  N.  ;  at  700  a  groove  points 
N.  and  S. 


Moycullttn. 


FIG.  "3.   PERCHED  BLOCK,  CNOC  MORDAN,  1100  feet.    (Reversed.) 

At  1100  feet  above  the  sea  a  great  angular  mass  of  granite 
is  stranded  upon  a  shelf,  like  a  boat  ready  for  launching.  It 
goes  by  the  name  of  Cloch  mor  Binnen  na  gawr — the  big 
stone  of  the  goat's  peak.  A  lot  of  bare-footed  Celts,  two  pretty 
girls,  two  men  and  a  small  boy,  were  clustered  about  when 
the  sketch  was  made  ;  while  a  party  of  fishermen  out  for  a 
walk  took  shelter  from  a  S.W.  breeze,  and  smoked  under 
the  lee  of  a  rock.  Behind  the  stone,  Cnoc  Ourid  and  Shan 
Folagh  rose  up  to  the  N.E.  beyond  the  lakes  of  Inver  and  the 
endless  bogs  of  Connemara. 


30  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

The  top  of  the  hill  is  flat,  boggy,  and  strewed  with  small 
boulders,  and  every  rock-surface  is  ground.  Grooves  are  well 
marked  everywhere,  though  weathered,  and  their  general 
direction  is  N.N.E.,  S.S.W.  The  hill  is  very  like  a  small 
Dartmoor.  Granite  tops,  which  rise  out  of  the  moss,  are 
miniature  tors,  with  joints  beginning  to  open  and  weather. 
The  work  is  the  same  though  it  is  further  advanced  in  Devon- 
shire. 

A  great  change  has  come  over  Great  Britain  since  these 
rocks  were  thus  ground  at  a  height  of  1300  feet,  and  yet  the 
marks  are  so  fresh  that  the  change  must  have  happened 
recently.  Granite  weathers  and  crumbles,  but  these  mountain- 
tops  upon  which  tempests  beat,  and  where  rain  falls  in  torrents; 
mountain-sides,  where  torrents  gather  and  pour  down  after  every 
shower  ;  river-beds,  lake-basins,  and  sea-margins — all  retain 
the  marks  of  ice  moving  diagonally  on  meridians  in  a  general 
south-western  direction  over  this  corner  of  Ireland. 

Shan  Folayh  (the  Hill  of  Flesh)  is  the  third  hill  in  this  row. 
It  is  2000  feet  high  by  the  Ordnance  map,  and  by  aneroid 
barometer.  The  top  is  about  ten  miles  from  Inver  Lodge  by 
pedometer.  It  is  the  eastern  end  of  Mam  Turk  (the  Range  of 
the  Boar),  and  the  top  is  isolated. 

At  800  feet  on  the  south-western  side  the  rock  is  stratified 
gneiss,  dipping  at  a  high  angle,  and  the  whole  outline  of  the  hill 
is  rounded ;  but  the  surface  on  this  side  is  much  split  and 
weathered.  The  hill  is  very  steep.  At  the  head  of  the  glen, 
near  the  col,  the  angle  is  45°.  Few  boulders  are  to  be  seen, 
and  few  grooves  ;  but  those  which  do  remain  at  this  height 
point  N.N.E  over  the  shoulder  of  the  hill  at  the  col  which 
joins  it  to  the  range,  and  S.S.W.  out  to  sea  past  Cnoc  Ourid 
and  Cnoc  Mordan. 

They  are  parallel  to  the  deep  glen  below  them,  and  to 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.  -     31 

several  chains  of  lakes  which  are  seen  in  the  plain,  and  they 
correspond  to  marks  on  the  hill-tops  at  which  they  point. 

From  this  height  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  brittle  plates 
of  ice  of  great  thickness,  like  those  which  drift  about  off 
Labrador,  might  float  and  slide  over  low  hills  of  granite  in 
the  hollow  between  Mam  Turk  and  Moyculleen ;  for  the  wide 
valley — six  or  seven  miles  across — seems  almost  a  plain.  In 
particular,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  ice-floes  might  split  and 
ground  upon  the  tops  of  Cnoc  Ourid  and  Cnoc  Mordan  ;  score 
them,  break  them,  stick  to  them,  pick  up  fragments,  and  drop 
them  in  the  lee. 

Supposing  these  hill-tops  to  be  awash  in  a  frozen  sea 
moving  south-westward,  the  stream  and  the  ice  which  it 
carried  would  curl  round  the  hill-tops,  as  a  stream  curls  round 
a  big  stone,  and  it  would  spread  out  when  it  had  passed  the 
Straits  of  Oughterard. 

At  1450  feet  the  tops  of  Cnoc  Ourid  and  Cnoc  Mordan 
sink  below  the  sea-horizon  of  Shan  Folagh,  and  at  that  level  a 
groove  upon  a  rounded  table  of  gneiss  points  S.S.W.  over  the 
top  of  Cnoc  Ourid  down  Camus  Bay  at  the  sea-horizon. 

At  2000  feet,  on  the  very  top  of  Shan  Folagh,  the  rock 
is  gray  quartz  traversed  by  white  veins.  The  beds  are  nearly 
vertical ;  the  surface  rounded  and  polished  wherever  it  has 
not  broken  and  split  from  weathering. 

On  the  north-eastern  side  of  the  top,  the  rocks  are  polished 
and  scored  in  the  most  remarkable  manner,  and  from  their 
hardness  the  surface  is  exceedingly  well  preserved.  Great 
flat  tables,  sloping  towards  the  N.N.E.  at  an  angle  of  54°  or 
thereby,  are  ground  perfectly  smooth,  and  rounded  off  at  the 
upper  edge.  Grooves  run  upwards  in  various  directions,  from 
N.,  N.N.E.,  and  N.E.  by  N.,  and  they  are  peculiar.  Some  marks 
are  rounded  dints,  as  if  the  polished  rock  had  been  struck  and 


32  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

ground  at  one  spot  by  something  which  was  afterwards  pushed 
over  the  hill-top.  Bits  of  this  polished  surface  are  easily 
picked  out,  for  joints  in  the  stone  make  it  a  sort  of  smooth 
mosaic  work. 

Looking  towards  places  at  which  these  grooves  point,  there 
is  no  higher  land  to  account  for  this  manifest  glaciation.  The 
grooves  point  2000  feet  over  Lough  Mask,  or  800  feet  over 
Slieve  Patry,  or  level  at  hills  twenty  miles  off,  over  glens,  and 
through  deep  glens,  and  over  the  end  of  Killary  Harbour, 
which  shines  like  a  glass  amongst  the  dark  hills. 

These  certainly  are  grooves  made  by  floating  ice,  which 
grounded  upon  this  hill-top,  2000  feet  above  the  present  sea- 
level,  when  the  whole  land  was  under  water. 

The  whole  aspect  of  the  hills  seen  from  this  high  station 
is  that  of  something  ground  at  about  this  level.  Moyculleen 
seems  to  be  a  rolling  plateau  of  rounded  tops,  like  those  which 
exist  in  the  valley.  Slieve  Patiy  is  a  block  of  high  land 
deeply  furrowed  by  glens,  but  the  top  is  a  smooth  even  rounded 
slope.  Beyond  it  lie  Castlebar,  Lough  Conn,  Balliua,  and 
Sligo.  In  one  direction  only,  to  the  northward,  higher 
mountains  seem  peaked  ;  but  the  northern  line,  when  drawn 
on  a  map  from  the  top  of  Shan  Folagh,  passes  through  a  deep 
glen  forty  miles  off,  beyond  Clew  Bay.  Standing  upon  glaci- 
ated rocks  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  looking  at  a  horizon 
54  miles  away,  it  seems  almost  certain  that  these  ice-ground 
Irish  hills  rose  in  the  midst  of  an  arctic  current  whicli 
flowed  amongst  them  and  altered  their  forms.  So  here  the 
first  impression  suggested  by  the  shape  of  the  country  is 
amply  confirmed  by  closer  examination  of  details. 

Glaciers. — A  marine  glacial  period  ending  in  a  rise  of  land 
should  have  produced  land-glaciers,  and  local  systems  of 
marks  ;  and  these  marks  do  in  fact  remain. 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.  33 

The  col  and  corrie  between  Shan  Folagh  and  Mam  Turk 
certainly  contained  a  small  glacier,  for  the  marks  are  there. 
The  top  of  the  col  is  bare  ice-ground  rock,  and  the  glen  has 
the  rounded  shape  of  a  glacier  valley.  There  is  hardly  any 
talus,  though  the  rocks  split  easily.  Looking  downwards 
from  the  steep  slope  at  the  head,  the  glen  seems  to  fade  away 
into  the  boggy  plain.  There  are  few  large  stones  in  it,  and 
these  seem  to  have  rolled  down  from  broken  rocks  above  them. 
Cnoc  Ourid  seems  nearly  to  fill  the  mouth  of  the  glen,  and 
Cnoc  Mordan  is  seen  to  the  right,  over  the  shoulder  of  Mam 
Turk.  Between  them  are  Camus  Bay  and  the  sea-horizon 
nearly  level  with  the  distant  hill-tops. 

The  col  was  a  sea-strait  when  Cnoc  Ourid  was  awash, 
and  the  glen  ought  to  be  full  of  wrecked  drift  dropped  in  the 
shelter.  It  seems  to  have  been  swept  clean.  The  hill-sides 
are  ground  from  top  to  bottom,  for  the  glen  is  a  trench  dug 
transversely  through  nearly  vertical  strata. 

But  when  the  mouth  of  the  glen  is  reached,  the  small 
river  is  found  to  have  cut  through  a  bed  of  boulders  and  clay 
nearly  fifty  feet  thick.  A  green  hillock  is  found  to  be  part  of 
a  moraine,  and  most  of  the  stones  contained  in  the  clay  seem 
to  be  derived  from  hills  which  make  the  sides  of  the  glen. 
Lower  down,  ice-ground  rocks  peer  up  through  the  brown 
moss,  and  the  river  washes  a  grooved  rock-surface,  which  it  has 
failed  to  spoil  But  this  moraine  has  been  washed  out  of  shape. 

Shan  Folagh  was  a  sunken  rock ;  then  awash ;  then  a  low 
island  at  the  end  of  a  point ;  then  a  peninsula  with  small 
glaciers  at  the  isthmus  ;  then  a  hill  in  a  plain  :  and  then  the 
glacier  seems  to  have  come  to  a  sudden  end,  for  the  moraine 
stops  short  in  the  jaws  of  the  glen.  The  glacial  period  pro- 
bably ended  when  the  land  had  risen  to  a  certain  point. 

At  the  moraine-level,  about  200  feet  above  the  sea,  the 

VOL.  II.  D 


34  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

low  hills  between  Mam  Turk  and  Moyculleen,  and  those  upon 
the  borders  of  Lough  Corrib,  and  near  Galway,  Ballina,  and 
Sligo,  would  be  like  rocks  which  now  fill  the  sea-loughs  ;  and 
ice  might  still  drift  and  carry  boulders  through  straits  which 
are  now  county  Galway,  and  the  glen  in  which  the  road  has 
been  made  to  Inver  Lodge. 

At  the  present  level  of  sea  and  land,  the  Arctic  Current 
is  shut  out  by  Ireland,  Great  Britain,  Denmark,  Scandinavia, 
and  Lapland,  and  the  Gulf  Stream  flows  up  in  the  lee.  If  the 
sea  were  2000  feet  higher  on  this  region  of  the  earth's  northern 
surface  generally,  the  Arctic  Current  would  overflow  the  dam 
which  separates  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  from  the  White  Sea. 
Then  the  Equatorial  Current  might  be  driven  elsewhere,  and 
then  the  climate  would  be  changed. 

When  Celts  named  the  "  hill  of  flesh,"  and  the  "  range  of 
boars,"  the  "  lake  of  stags,"  and  similar  places,  they  found  other 
creatures  in  Connemara  than  snipes  and  hares.  When  they 
composed  the  long  poems  which  Connemara  peasants  still 
repeat,  the  pastime  of  their  lives  and  the  burden  of  their 
songs  were  love,  war,  and  hunting  ;  but  before  there  were  ele- 
phants, elks,  and  men,  to  be  hunted  and  smothered  in  Irish 
bogs  ;  the  wide  Atlantic  covered  the  whole  land  ;  and  marks 
an  eighth  of  an  inch  deep,  made  by  floating  ice  on  the  highest 
top  of  Shan  Folagh,  have  not  been  worn  out  by  all  the  rain 
which  has  fallen  there  since  the  day  of  Finn  MacCool, 
MacArt,  MacTreunmor,  and  since  Shan  Folagh  peered  above 
the  waves. 

Leaca  Donna. — Shan  Folagh,  Cnoc  Ourid,  and  Cnoc  Mor- 
dan,  being  on  one  side  of  a  strait,  the  other  side  is  a  gneiss 
hill,  called  Leaca  Donna,  or  brown  slabs.  It  makes  the 
western  corner  of  the  block  of  high  land  in  Moyculleen, 
the  highest  point  of  which  is  about  1200  feet  above 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.     35 

the  sea.  The  western  face  of  this  block  is  rounded,  and 
almost  bare  of  soil  and  vegetation.  From  the  road  at  Sgriob 
Lake  to  the  top  is  about  three  and  a  half  miles. 

At  the  head  of  Sgriob,  Shan  Folagh  is  seen  to  the  north- 
east as  a  rounded,  conical,  isolated  hill.  Slieve  Patry  is  seen 
past  the  eastern  shoulder  as  a  block  of  hills  with  a  smooth 
sloping  top  ;  and  to  the  westward,  in  the  Moyculleen  range,  a 
wide  rounded  valley  runs  half  a  mile  eastwards  into  the 
hills. 

About  the  lake  in  the  low  grounds  loose  blocks  of  granite 
are  scattered  in  every  direction,  and  the  rocks  are  all  ground 
and  scored.  The  grooves  at  high-water  mark  at  this  spot  run 
north  and  south. 

At  the  same  level,  a  mile  and  a  half  eastwards,  grooves  are 
well  seen  ;  they  point  N.E.,  S.W.,  and  cross  the  mouth  of  the 
small  glen,  which  seems  made  to  be  the  habitation  of  a  glacier. 
If  these  grooves  were  made  by  land-ice  they  would  point  due 
west  out  of  the  glen. 

Half  a  mile  nearer  to  the  hills  the  ground  is  strewed  with 
the  debris  of  a  small  moraine,  which  makes  a  curved  sweep 
across  the  mouth  of  the  glen.  It  marks  the  spot  where  a 
small  glacier  ended,  at  about  the  same  level  as  the  Shan  Folagh 
glacier.  This  moraine  is  washed  out  of  shape. 

In  this  sheltered  nook  a  village  built  of  boulders,  fields 
fenced  with  rounded  stones,  green  corn,  blighted  potatoes,  and 
worm-eaten  cabbages,  show  a  better  soil  than  bare  granite 
and  wet  peat,  which  make  the  plain. 

The  base  of  the  hill  on  the  right  of  this  glen,  up  to  350 
feet,  is  thickly  strewed  with  large  loose  blocks.  Above  that 
level — which  would  join  Lough  Corrib  to  the  sea,  make  Moy- 
culleen an  island,  and  Ireland  an  archipelago — the  ice- 
ground  hill  is  swept  bare  ;  but  every  here  and  there  perched 


36  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

blocks  riding  on  granite  saddles  hang  on  the  steep  hill-side, 
where  a  good  push  would  send  them  rolling  to  the  bottom. 

The  rock  generally  is  rough  and  weathered,  but  every  here 
and  there  a  vein  of  hard  quartz  stands  up  half  an  inch  from 
the  gneiss.  The  quartz  surface  is  smooth,  polished,  shining, 
and  marked  by  sand-lines  and  scores.  The  edges  of  the  ribs 
are  still  angular.  Elsewhere  hard  patches  preserve  their 
smooth  surface  for  a  couple  of  square  yards.  At  700  feet 
the  grooves  and  finer  sand-marks  point  N.N.E.  and  S.S.W. 
along  the  face  of  the  hill,  past  Slieve  Patry,  over  Lough  Mask, 
at  the  Firth  of  Clyde  in  one  direction,  and  out  to  sea  in  the 
other. 

At  1000  feet  a  well-marked  groove  on  the  top  of  a  shoulder 
points  N.E.  by  N.,  S.W.  by  S.,  near  Arran  in  Scotland,  and  at 
the  Irish  Arran  Islands. 

At  1130  feet  by  barometer  the  hill-top  is  a  boggy  rolling 
plateau,  with  low  rocky  saddlebacks  peering  up  through 
black  moss.  Sea  and  bog  ;  hills,  islands,  lakes  and  moun- 
tains ;  Galway  Bay,  Lough  Corrib,  and  the  low  grounds  of 
central  Ireland — are  spread  out  like  a  map,  and  there  is  not 
a  hill  in  sight  to  account  for  this  glaciation  by  land-ice. 

In  the  foreground  of  this  wild  landscape  a  wild  group  of 
figures  completed  the  picture.  In  a  dark  wet  hollow,  where 
a  stream  oozed  out  of  a  bog,  a  thin  blue  smoke  curled  up  into 
the  sunlight.  Two  bare-footed,  black-haired  girls,  dressed  in 
patched  red  garments,  shaded  their  eyes  from  the  sun,  and 
peered  doubtfully  at  the  intruder.  Three  men  and  a  boy, 
picturesque  and  wild,  unkempt,  bare-footed,  ragged,  and  polite, 
paddled  about  in  the  black  peat.  Barrels,  casks,  noggins, 
baskets,  creels,  peats,  malt,  a  copper  still,  sweet  worts,  the 
worm  in  its  tub,  a  pile  of  potatoes  for  supper,  and  the  black 
holes  from  which  the  whole  gear  had  been  dug,  showed  a 


CONN  EM  AHA — GAL  WAY  AND  WESTPOKT  CURVES.  37 

poteen  distillery  iii  full  work.     The  Ougliterard  gauger — bad 
luck  to  him — found  it  out. 

From  the  ice-period  to  the  period  of  poteen  in  Connemara 
is  a  long  time,  but  the  weathering  of  gneiss  during  that  time 
has  been  less  than  half  an  inch  ;  for  it  can  be  measured  from 
the  polished  surface  of  a  rib  of  quartz  to  the  rough  surface 
above  which  it  rises.  Space  could  be  turned  into  time  if  the 
rate  of  weathering  were  known.  Surely  works  of  human  art, 
obelisks,  pyramids,  or  sculptured  stones,  might  give  the  rate 
of  weathering,  and  so  fix  the  date  of  the  glacial  period  in  Ire- 
land. 

Thus,  on  four  isolated  hill-tops  within  sight  of  each  other, 
but  far  apart,  at  a  height  of  2000  feet  and  at  the  sea-level,  the 
Galway  curve  is  repeated  in  well-marked  ice-grooves  upon 
fixed  rocks  in  Connemara. 

The  boulders  which  ice  carried  are  very  remarkable  in 
this  district.  They  seem  to  spread  like  a  fan  from  the  pass. 
Close  to  the  road-side,  near  the  police  barracks  at  Inver,  lies 
a  great  block  of  granite  (p.  10).  It  measures  36  x  12  x  10 
feet,  and  it  rests  upon  rounded  granite,  where  it  fell. 

It  is  broken  into  seven  pieces,  which  retain  their  positions. 
The  upper  side  is  ground  like  other  neighbouring  surfaces  ; 
one  end,  the  rest  of  the  sides,  and  the  fractures,  are  angular 
and  unground.  It  is  evident  that  this  great  stone  was  a  bit 
of  the  granite  surface  of  the  country  ;  that  it  was  lifted  bodily, 
carried  some  distance,  and  dropped  where  it  lies  broken. 
Perhaps  it  broke  when  it  fell ;  perhaps  it  split  afterwards. 

It  lies  in  the  jaws  of  a  glen,  which  was  a  strait  at  the  foot 
of  a  rounded  granite  hill,  Shan  na  Clerich  (the  Clerk's  Hill), 
which  is  about  400  feet  high.  The  hill  is  scored  and  ground 
all  over.  Perched  blocks  are  scattered  over  it ;  but  all  about 
it,  and  chiefly  on  S.W.,  or  lee-side,  enormous  blocks  of  granite 


38  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

are  thickly  strewn.  A  great  many  of  these  are  broken,  and 
most  of  them  are  rounded  on  one  side  or  another.  Some  few 
are  rounded  on  all  sides,  and  chipped  at  the  lower  edge,  as  if 
they  broke  them  when  they  fell  down.  Sometimes  they  are 
ranged  in  rows,  which  point  N.E.  by  N.  over  the  shoulder  of 
the  hill  towards  the  low  pass,  through  which  the  road  leads 
from  Oughterard. 

Nearly  all  these  blocks  rest  upon  bare  rock,  but  here  and 
there  the  rock  is  covered  by  compact  hard  beds  of  gravel  and 
reddish  clay.  The  gravel  is  chiefly  granite,  but  the  clay 
encloses  small  boulders  of  greenstone,  and  quartz  rock  of 
various  kinds  and  colours.  These  are  foreigners,  for  there  are 
no  rocks  of  the  kind  within  ten  miles  at  least.  Where  the 
clay  has  been  moved  to  make  roads,  the  granite-surface  beneath 
is  perfectly  preserved  in  many  places.  Crystals  of  quartz  and 
felspar  no  longer  stand  out  in  relief  to  give  a  firm  hold  to 
hob-nailed  boots,  but  crystals  and  strings  of  harder  rock  are  all 
smoothed  to  a  fine  polished  surface  ;  upon  this  grooves  which 
a  pencil  fills  and  finer  marks  remain.  Hob-nails  make  almost 
as  clear  a  mark  when  they  slide  upon  the  rock.  The  polish 
on  the  pillars  of  the  Colosseum  is  not  better  preserved,  and 
the  marble  of  the  Parthenon  is  far  more  weathered  than  this 
ice-ground  Connemara  granite  where  protected  by  the  clay, 
which  helped  to  smooth  it.  All  these  grooves,  great  and  small, 
high  and  low,  point  nearly  N.E.  by  N. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  ice  scraped  along,  carrying 
boulders  and  grinding  rocks,  and  the  rocks  show  whence  some 
of  these  boulders  came  ;  others  may  have  come  from  Antrim. 

Amongst  the  large  blocks,  and  trains  of  blocks,  ridges  of 
granite  of  the  same  kind  rise  up  in  the  moor.  They  have 
strange  weird  shapes,  and  suggest  gray  monsters  crawling 
eastwards  out  of  the  moss.  They  are  the  sides  ^^  of  rock- 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.      39 

grooves  ^-^,  in  which  peat-moss  gathers  and  grows,  and  the 
dragons  and  giant  caterpillars  and  maggots  are  tors  and 
ridges,  ready  to  be  jointed,  quarried,  and  carried  away  to 
make  granite  boulders,  for  the  stone  is  already  split. 

Some,  as  in  the  woodcut  (p.  7),  are  actually  moved,  and 
left  loose  in  the  place  where  they  were  first  ground  into 
shape,  and  then  quarried  and  pushed  out  by  ice.  These  are 
chiefly  to  be  found  at  the  north-eastern  end  of  ridges,  where 
they  were  struck  and  shaken. 

At  other  places  the  angular  nest,  from  which  a  stone  has 
been  pushed,  lifted,  or  dragged,  remains,  but  the  stone  has 
disappeared.  At  some  places  the  granite  has  been  worn  so 
near  to  a  joint  that  it  can  be  split  off  in  thin  layers.  Else- 
where it  is  solid,  and  the  fracture  is  never  round  like  the 
worn  surface. 

All  over  the  moors  and  bogs,  chiefly  on  the  lee-side  of 
isolated  hills,  these  blocks  are  scattered  and  ranged  in  rows. 
Many  are  of  enormous  size.  One,  near  Iiiver  Lake,  measures 
14  x  11  x  12  feet,  and  must  weigh  about  130  tons. 

Cloch  Corril  (p.  19)  is  still  larger ;  it  stands  on  the  bank 
of  Lough  dbrril,  and  it  probably  came  from  Shan  Folagh, 
ten  miles  off.  The  circumference  is  66  feet,  and  the  height 
about  24.  The  upper  side  is  rounded,  the  under  hollowed 
and  smoothed.  The  sides  are  angular,  and  coincide  with  the 
natural  fracture  of  the  stone,  for  it  is  splitting  up  and  falling 
in  large  masses,  which  lie  about  it,  and  the  rain  drips  through 
it  into  the  hollow  beneath.  It  stands  upon  a  rounded  table  of 
granite,  on  which  straw  is  laid ;  it  is  smoked,  for  fires  are 
burned  beneath  it ;  and  it  is  rumoured  that  malt  dries  there. 
The  lake  is  a  rock-basin  full  of  big  stones,  and  the  striae  upon 
its  islands  point  the  usual  way,  towards  Cnoc  Mordan  and 
Mam  Turk.  It  is  a  beautiful  spot  to  look  at,  and  "  a  fine 


40  BALTIC  CURRENT— BKITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

place  for  brewing  poteen,"  as  a  native  remarked.  It  has  a 
bad  name,  so  it  is  seldom  visited.  It  is  haunted  by  "  each 
uisge,"  the  water-horse,  and  other  dangerous  beings — so  few 
people  go  there  except  to  fish  or  brew  spirits  ;  heather,  blae- 
berries, ivy,  yew,  holly,  birch,  and  oak  scrub,  flourish  upon 
the  islands  ;  white  goats  caper  about  amongst  the  stones,  and 
nibble  the  bark  of  the  trees  ;  it  is  a  green  spot  in  the  midst 
of  a  wilderness  of  brown  boggy  moor,  surrounded  by  the  dis- 
tant blue  hills  of  the  "Joyces'  country,"  and  the  Twelve  Pins 
of  Connemara.  The  chief  feature  in  the  landscape  is  the  old 
gray  boulder,  which  is  very  like  one  upon  the  Unteraar 
glacier  (vol.  i.  p.  153).  That  stone  has  given  shelter  to  many 
a  tourist — to  Saussure,  Forbes,  and  to  masters  and  students 
of  glacial  action.  The  Swiss  stone  rests  on  ice  which  is  grind- 
ing rocks  ;  the  Irish  stone  upon  rocks  which  are  ice-ground. 
Ice  is  carrying  one,  and  ice  certainly  carried  the  other. 

Such  a  stone  must  have  a  legend,  and  thus  the  biggest 
boulder  in  Connemara  has  one  of  its  own.  It  was  the  play- 
thing of  a  Celtic  hero,  Corril,  who  crushed  his  finger  and  left 
the  mark  in  the  hollow  stone,  when  he  threw  it  from  Mam 
Turk  at  Mordan,  the  father  of  Goll  MacMorna,  who  stood  on 
his  own  hill  about  ten  miles  off. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  tract  was  ground  for  a 
depth  of  2000  feet  by  ice  moving  from  N.E.  or  N.N.E.  to  the 
opposite  points.  All  marks,  from  general  forms  of  hill  and 
dale,  down  to  minute  sand-lines,  tell  one  story.  If  this  be 
glacier-work,  the  snowshed  was  beyond  Scotland.  If  it  be 
the  work  of  a  current  with  floats,  similar  work  is  going  on  in 

O  O 

corresponding  latitudes  within  ten  days'  sail. 

Surely  it  was  sea-ice  which  carried  Cloch  Corril  (p.  19), 
and  set  it  gently  down  on  its  base.  Surely  it  was  a  fiisible 
raft  which  planted  a  block  upon  end  liko  a  pillar  on  a  big 


CONNEMARA — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES.  41 

stone  pedestal  at  the  foot  of  Cnoc  Ourid,  on  a  rock  in  the 
midst  of  a  bog.  When  the  sketch  was  made  on  the  wood, 
two  gray  horses  stood  beside  the  stone,  lazily  switching  their 
tails  to  keep  away  a  host  of  flies.  When  it  was  gently  placed 
upright  on  its  base,  sea-horses,  seals,  and  bears,  may  have 
played  about  the  hill-sides,  where  goats  now  browse.  There 
are  "  seal-meadows"  further  south  on  the  opposite  coast. 

These  sea-monsters,  and  the  end  of  the  Irish  glacial 
period,  may  have  been  seen  by  the  ancestors  of  the  men  who 
are  now  migrating  westward  after  the  glacial  period.  Celts 
owned  the  land  at  the  earliest  historical  date,  the  ice-marks 
are  as  fresh  as  Roman  and  Egyptian  sculpture,  and  all  Celtic 
tribes  in  the  British  Isles,  from  Cornwall  to  Sutherland, 
people  their  lakes  and  seas  with  water-horses,  water-bulls, 
dragons,  and  sea-monsters.  Their  popular  tales  speak  of  ice- 
mountains,  of  hills  of  glass,  of  islands  with  fire  about  them, 
rising  from  the  sea ;  of  wicked  cities  and  plains  sinking 
beneath  the  waves. 

According  to  a  Connemara  man,  Finn  and  his  warriors 
once  chased  a  deer  till  they  lost  their  way,  "  and  all  but  two 
were  frozen  and  starved,  so  that  they  died  of  cold  and 
starvation."  The  survivors  did  many  marvellous  feats.  If 
these  myths  be  of  native  growth,  they  must  surely  be  tracks 
which  a  recent  glacial  period  has  left  on  human  minds.  The 
belief  in  mythical  sea-monsters,  large  deer  and  birds,  is  fresh 
and  vivid,  plain  and  clearly  marked,  amongst  all  ancient 
Britons,  as  are  the  ice-marks  upon  these  Irish  hills  and 
plains  in  Connemara. 


CHAPTEE   XXX. 

BALTIC  CUKRENT  3  — BRITISH  ISLES  3  — IRELAND  2 — CONNE- 
MARA  2— NORTH-WESTERN,  AND  NORTH-EASTERN  COASTS— 
GALWAY,  WESTPOET,  AND  DERRY  VEAGH  CURVES. 

THE  broad  trail  of  the  Galway  curve  is  well  marked. 

The  fact  of  glaciation  in  a  certain  south-westerly  direction 
for  a  height  or  depth  of  2000  feet,  and  a  breadth  of  thirty 
miles,  being  established  at  one  point  on  the  western  coast  of 
Ireland,  the  next  step  is  to  look  to  the  configuration  of  the 
country.  Books  on  geology — The  Antiquity  of  Man  by  Lyell, 
Jukes'  Manual  of  Geology,  and  other  works  of  authority — show 
that  the  sea-level  has  varied  greatly  on  Irish  hills.  Shells 
are  found  high  up,  and  peat,  which  grows  on  shore,  is  found 
below  low-water  mark  ;  and  for  numerous  reasons  it  is  taken 
to  be  an  established  fact  that  most  of  Ireland  was  under 
water  after  its  hills  had  assumed  their  present  general  form. 

If  the  contour  Line  of  500  feet  is  traced,  and  assumed  to  be 
an  ancient  sea-level,  Ireland  becomes  an  archipelago.  Fifteen 
groups  of  islands  are  disposed  about  a  central  strait,  which 
ends  at  Galway  and  Oughterard.  If  the  level  of  2000  feet, 
the  top  of  Shan  Folagh,  is  taken  to  be  the  sea-level,  very  little 
of  Ireland  remains.  (See  map,  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  276.) 

The  western  coast  at  the  present  sea-level  is  indented  by 
a  series  of  bays  running  northwards  and  eastwards — Donegal 
Bay,  Clew  Bay,  Galway,  Shannon,  Dingle,  Kenmare,  Bantry, 
etc.  Most  of  the  high  mountains  to  the  west  are  on  promon- 


GALWAY  CURVE.  43 

tories  which  separate  these  bays.  If  these  western  mountains 
were  groups  of  islands  stretching  along  the  lines  of  movement 
already  indicated,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  a  north-eastern 
current  ran  amongst  them,  and  to  know  where  to  look  for 
conspicuous  ice-marks  upon  Irish  plains  and  hill-tops. 

The  north-eastern  corner  of  each  block  of  high  land  ought 
to  bear  the  strongest  marks  of  ice  drifting  south-westwards  ; 
and  curves  drawn  through  glens  which  were  sounds  and  straits 
ought  to  bear  reference  to  main  lines  drawn  by  greater  streams 
in  the  widest  openings. 

The  course  of  a  rivulet  passing  through  a  row  of  stepping- 
stones  ;  the  run  of  larger  streams  which  split  and  join  in  pass- 
ing a  salmon  weir;  the  run  of  the  ebb  in  a  sea-loch  studded 
with  rocks  and  islands ;  the  curves  in  the  tail  of  the  Gulf 
Stream  where  it  passes  northwards  and  eastwards  amongst 
islands  off  Hammerfest  and  the  north  of  Norway  ;  the  Medi- 
terranean Current  off  Gibraltar ;  the  Baltic  Current  off  the  south 
of  Sweden,  and  the  windings  of  the  Arctic  Current  off  Green- 
land and  North  America,  all  are  illustrations  of  the  move- 
ments of  an  old  Arctic  Current  striking  upon  Irish  hills. 
The  theory  is  simple  ;  but  a  theory,  however  formed,  is  worth 
little  till  it  has  been  well  tried.  If  it  stands  examination,  it 
rises  in  value  by  every  new  test. 

North-western  coast. — A  curve  drawn  below  the  500  level 
from  Galway  to  Newport  joins  Clew  Bay  to  Galway  Bay,  and 
cuts  off  a  large  block  of  high  land  which  would  be  a  group  of 
islands  if  the  sea  were  less  than  500  feet  above  its  present  level. 
The  Twelve  Pins  of  Connemara  form  part  of  the  group. 

Roads  wind  about  amongst  the  mountains  in  this  district 
and  follow  the  lowest  levels,  towns  are  built  near  the  coast ; 
so  ice-marks  which  occur  near  roads  and  towns  must  either 
be  marks  of  glaciers  sliding  from  the  hills,  or  of  streams  flow- 


44  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

in<r  in  shallow  sounds.     If  a  main  stream  flowed  in  from  the 

O 

N.E.,  about  Belfast  and  Londonderry,  it  must  have  found  its 
way  out  by  glens,  into  bays,  which  open  to  the  Atlantic  at 
Galway,  Westport,  and  Donegal.  Ice-marks  do  follow  curves 
which  agree  with  this  supposed  movement  of  an  arctic  current 
amongst  islands. 

In  travelling  from  Ougliterard  to  Clifton,  the  road  leads 
along  the  foot  of  Mam  Turk  and  the  Twelve  Pins  of  Connemara. 
If  ice-grooves  were  made  by  land-glaciers,  they  would  cross 
the  road  ;  if  they  were  made  by  floating  ice  and  an  arctic 
current  this  was  a  place  for  an  eddy  in  the  stream,  and  the 
grooves  should  run  along  the  foot  of  the  hills. 

At  the  foot  of  Mam  Turk,  in  the  lee,  there  are  thick  beds 
of  glacial  drift ;  the  large  boulders  are  buried  in  moss,  and  the 
rocks  are  hidden,  but  the  hill-sides  are  ground  to  the  very  top. 
On  nearing  Ballynahinch,  after  passing  a  deep  glen,  the  rocks 
appear,  and  grooves  point  back  at  Shan  Folagh,  the  promontory 
round  which  a  north-eastern  stream  500  feet  deep  must  have 
turned  to  reach  this  spot.  The  marks  run  nearly  E.  and  "W. 

At  Ballynahinch  Lake,  near  Canal  Bridge,  the  rock  is  slate, 
and  much  contorted.  The  ground  surface  is  well  preserved 
near  the  road,  and  the  grooves  point  E.  N.  E.  along  the  foot  of 
the  Twelve  Pins  at  the  shoulder  of  Mam  Turk.  In  the  other 
direction,  they  point  out  to  sea  over  the  lake,  wherein  fisher- 
men disport  themselves  and  salmon  plunge. 

At  Clifton,  a  glen,  a  hill-side,  and  well-marked  grooves, 
point  E.  and  W.  out  of  a  deep  gorge  in  the  mountains  at  the 
sea. 

Further  on,  in  a  wide  boggy  plain,  a  rounded  boss  of  whin- 
stone  has  grooves  which  point  K\V.  and  S.E.  at  the  end  of 
the  Twelve  Pins.  Thus,  in  passing  along  the  foot  of  the  hills 
on  the  lee-side,  the  grooves  turn  gradually,  till  at  the  point 


GALWAY  CURVE.  45 

they  cross  the  main  current  at  right  angles,  as  eddy-streams 
do  behind  a  stone.  (See  voL  i  p.  127,  and  map,  p.  496.) 

From  this  place  the  road  bends  back,  and  passes  up-stream 
into  a  deep  gorge  at  Letter/rack.  Here  large  mounds  of  boul- 
ders are  piled  below  steep  mountains,  which  are  swept  bare 
higher  up.  A  few  large  boulders  are  strewed  about  the  foot 
of  the  hills  which  border  Kylemore,  and  woods  of  birch  and 
other  trees  fringe  the  lakes,  and  explain  the  name  of  Great- 
wood.  At  the  mouth  of  this  pass  the  drift  is  arranged  in 
terraces,  and  these  look  like  sea-work. 

The  valley  divides  the  Twelve  Pins  from  Ben  Coona,  and 
after  passing  a  low  col  the  road  descends  about  300  feet  to 
the  Killaries. 

Here  a  very  small  depression  would  join  the  sea  to  Lough 
Mask,  and  make  the  hills  a  group  of  long  islands  separated 
by  narrow  sounds. 

Up  to  700  feet  these  hill-sides  are  certainly  ice-ground, 
and  they  seem  to  be  ground  to  the  top  in  the  direction  of  the 
valleys.  Low  down,  the  rocks  are  strewed  with  boulders  ; 
high  up,  they  are  swept  clean. 

At  Leenan  the  road  comes  to  the  end  of  a  long  sea-loch, 
and  runs  up-stream  in  a  deep  glen  in  the  direction  of  Castle- 
bar  and  the  Ox  Mountains,  X.E.  by  N.  At  the  head  of  the 
sea-loch  is  a  mass  of  drift  packed  in  level  terracea 

From  Leenan  the  road  follows  a  deep  gorge,  with  steep 
hills  on  both  sides.  On  the  right,  cross-glens  run  far  up. 
A  few  moraines  cross  the  mouths  of  these  glens.  The  rock 
is  silurian,  a  series  of  beds  of  conglomerate  ;  mica-slate  and 
clay- slate  much  upheaved.  Where  the  road  passes  out  of 
the  glen,  at  heights  of  about  600  and  700  feet,  ice-grooves  are 
exceedingly  well  preserved  on  blue  slate.  The  bottom  of  the 
glen  elsewhere  is  full  of  drift.  Here,  near  the  col,  the  rock  is 


46  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

bare  or  covered  only  by  peat.  Torrents  have  cut  a  few  shallow 
angular  trenches  in  the  steep  hill-sides,  but  here,  at  the  top 
of  the  pass,  is  evidence  of  a  current  700  feet  deeper  than  the 
present  sea  flowing  in  from  the  low  centre  of  Ireland.  The 
grooves  are  clear  as  well-preserved  sculpture  on  a  slate 
tombstone  a  year  old,  and  in  ascending  the  hill  they  turn 
gradually  round  till  they  get  clear  of  obstructions,  and  point  the 
same  way  as  the  high  Shan  Folagh  grooves  already  described. 

At  the  bridge  they  point  E.N.E.  over  the  shoulders  of  a 
hill  at  the  head  of  the  pass. 

At  300  feet,  a  little  further  on,  N.E.  at  a  notch.  At  the 
head  of  the  glen,  700  feet,  they  point  N.E.  by  N.  over  every- 
thing at  the  Ox  Mountains  twenty -five  miles  away  and 
beyond  a  glen. 

A  glance  at  the  map  shows  that  in  this  district  minor 
valleys  all  agree  with  these  marks.  From  large  and  small 
grooves  it  seems  that  the  stream,  which  ran  out  by  Galway 
and  Oughterard,  split  upon  the  hard  block  of  land  which  is 
now  the  Twelve  Pins  of  Connemara,  and  glanced  off  north- 
westwards through  the  Killaries  and  Kylemore. 

Looking  back  over  Slieve  Patry,  which  makes  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  this  block,  the  outline  is  smooth  and  the 
slope  small,  though  the  outline  is  along  the  strike  of  strata 
which  dip  away  from  the  ridge  on  both  sides.  It  seems  clear 
that  little  weathering  or  river-work  has  been  done  amongst 
these  hills  since  they  were  last  ground  by  floating  ice. 

On  leaving  this  glen  the  road  passes  across  the  supposed 
stream,  and  over  a  plateau  varied  by  ridges  of  low  hills, 
strewed  with  large  blocks. 

Near  Westport  these  become  very  numerous.  The  whole 
country  is  covered  with  big  stones,  and  wherever  the  peat 
has  been  cut  away  the  drift  appears. 


WESTPORT  CURVE.  47 

Many  stones  are  scored  and  grooved,  walls  are  museums 
of  transported  stones.  Eed  sandstone,  gray  and  blue  and 
black  limestone,  white  quartz,  coarse  conglomerates,  whin- 
stones,  grits,  and  granite,  are  piled  up  in  houses  and  fences  ; 
and  no  ice-groove  in  the  neighbourhood  points  at  the  holy 
Croagh  Patrick,  which  towers  up  2510  feet  on  the  left.  It 
must  have  been  a  tall  island  when  the  rest  of  Ireland  was 
nearly  all  drowned. 

At  Westport  the  head  of  Clew  Bay  is  reached.  A  curve 
drawn  N.E.,  or  thereby,  500  feet  above  the  sea-level,  passes 
up  a  valley  to  Castlebar,  through  a  gap  in  the  hills  at  the  end 
of  Lough  Conn,  past  Ballina,  over  a  flat  country  to  Sligo,  and 
so  through  Donegal  Bay  to  Lough  Foyle.  (See  vol.  i.  p.  232.) 

It  cuts  off  two  blocks  of  high  land  ;  one  which  ends  in 
Achill  Head,  and  a  second  to  the  north  of  Donegal  Bay, 
which  ends  about  Letterkenny  and  Eossan  Point.  Let  this 
be  called  the  "  Westport  curve,"  and  followed  wherever  it  will 
lead. 

Westpwt  curve. — If  a  stream  ran  in  by  Lough  Foyle,  out 
by  Donegal  Bay,  branched  off  through  the  gap  at  Lough 
Conn,  between  the  Ox  Mountains  and  Croagmoyle,  and  struck 
upon  Croagh  Patrick,  the  northern  shore  of  Clew  Bay  would 
be  in  the  lee,  and  the  rush  would  be  at  the  narrows  at  the 
end  of  Lough  Conn  ;  at  Westport ;  and  at  the  end  of  Donegal 
Bay.  The  western  mountains — Achill,  and  those  near  that 
island — would  all  be  sheltered  by  hills  to  the  east.  The  road 
to  Achill  is  in  the  supposed  lee,  and  the  country  supports 
theory. 

The  whole  of  the  northern  shore  of  Clew  Bay  is  thickly 
covered  by  drift,  and  the  hills  are  clothed  to  the  top  with 
heather,  so  that  the  rock  is  hidden.  The  bay  is  a  wide  arm 
of  the  sea  studded  with  islands.  These  seem  all  to  be  of  one 


48  BALTIC  CUKKENT — BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

pattern.  They  have  rounded  slopes  towards  the  head  of  the 
bay,  and  many-  are  broken  short  off  to  seaward.  The  drift 
upon  the  mainland  is  piled  up  in  great  heaps,  mounds,  and 
beds.  Many  of  the  stones  are  a  very  coarse  conglomerate  of 
white  quartz  pebbles,  as  large  as  pigeons'  eggs.  Where  these 
have  been  long  exposed  the  cement  weathers  out,  leaving 
surfaces  which  resemble  a  modern  sea-beach.  But  many  sur- 
faces have  been  ground,  so  that  one  front  of  a  bed  of  pebbles 
is  flat  and  smooth,  while  the  sides  are  round.  Amongst  these 
are  specimens  of  gray  mica  schist,  red  sandstone,  and  other 
rocks,  imbedded  in  hard  yellowish  clay. 

Achill  Island,  the  Isle  of  the  Cell,  is  separated  from  the 
mainland  by  a  narrow  shallow  sound.  The  low  grounds  are 
covered  by  very  deep  peat-mosses,  in  which  bog-pine  and  bog- 
oak  abound.  Beneath  the  peat  are  thick  beds  of  boulders 
and  clay.  Several  large  hills  occupy  the  rest  of  the  space, 
and  these  end  in  steep  slopes  or  perpendicular  sea-cliffs. 
These  hills  have  the  usual  long  north-eastern  slope  and 
rounded  forms,  and  piles  of  drift-like  moraines  fill  up  the 
ends  of  mountain  hollows.  Where  rocks  do  appear  they  have 
the  shape  of  ice-ground  rocks,  and  some  few  have  grooves, 
but  bare  rocks  are  hard  to  find  in  Achill.  Cruachan,  2222 
feet  high  according  to  the  survey,  and  2200  and  odd  by 
observation,  is  the  highest  point. 

On  the  eastern  shoulder,  at  600  feet,  a  rock-surface,  very 
much  weathered,  is  exposed,  and  a  deep  groove,  which  can 
still  be  traced  there,  points  east  and  west.  A  few  blocks  are 
perched  upon  rounded  rocks  at  this  spot,  and  higher  up  at 
800  feet.  These  are  clear  ice-marks.  At  1000  feet  the 
ground  is  covered  with  large  loose  stones,  laid  flat  and  closely 
packed.  They  are  of  many  kinds.  At  1500  feet  stones  still 
cover  the  ground,  but  they  are  smaller,  and  some  patches  of 


WESTPORT  CURVE.  49 

yellow  clay  peep  out.  At  the  top  the  ground  is  still  thickly 
covered  with  large  loose  rounded  stones,  and  the  rock-surface 
is  hidden. 

To  the  eastwards  a  small  glen  has  been  .hollowed  out  of 
the  slope  of  the  hill,  and  swept  bare.  A  small  lake  has 
formed  behind  a  mound,  which  seems  to  be  the  moraine  of  a 
small  glacier  which  once  nestled  here  and  swept  a  trench  in 
the  drift.  To  the  north  the  hill  has  been  broken.  It  has 
a  steep  scarped  face  more  than  2000  feet  high,  along  which 
men  and  sheep  can  barely  scramble,  and  at  many  places  the 
slopes  end  in  sheer  cliffs. 

The  end  of  Achill  is  a  ridge  which  projects  westward  into 
the  Atlantic.  Sheep  and  shepherds  scramble  along  the  face  of 
the  cliffs  by  paths  on  which  even  natives  hesitate  to  venture. 
Perched  on  the  verge  of  this  cliff,  830  feet  above  the  Atlantic, 
when  the  wind  is  high,  the  whole  rock  seems  to  shake  and 
cpaiver.  It  is  a  grand  specimen  of  ocean-work,  and  a  striking- 
contrast  to  the  ice-marks  in  Connemara.  There  everything  is 
round  ;  here  all  is  angular,  the  hills  are  ground  from  above,  but 
the  cliffs  are  undermined  and  broken  from  below  by  the  sea. 
Even  where  black  rocks  peer  through  broken  white  water  off  the 
extreme  point  ;  where  the  run  of  the  tide  is  the  strongest,  and 
Atlantic  waves  are  of  the  largest  size ;  even  there  rock-forms  are 
sharp  and  angular.  Water- work  and  ice-work  are  very  different. 

On  a  fine  morning  after  a  westerly  gale  has  blown  itself 
out,  great  rolling  masses  of  cloud  gather  and  ground  upon 
these  high  western  points-.  They  seem  to  anchor  themselves 
upon  the  peaks  and  stretch  slowly  away  to  leeward,  1000 
feet  above  the  sea,  dropping  showers  as  they  drift.  Their 
tall  white  heads  roll  upwards  and  shine  like  snow  in  the 
sun,  while  the  ribs  and  keels  of  these  air-ships,  dyed  blue 
and  purple,  cast  deep  indigo  shadows  on  the  heather.  As 

VOL.  11.  E 


50  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

these  clouds  now  drift  steadily  and  ground  upon  the  hill- 
tops, so  ice  once  drifted  and  grounded  ;  and  here,  on  the  lee- 
side  of  a  group  of  hills,  boulders  which  ice  carried  and  dropped 
are  strewed,  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  edge  of  cliffs 
which  the  sea  is  now  breaking  down. 

Here,  too,  is  evidence  of  the  persistence  of  ocean-move- 
ments which  result  from  the  earth's  rotation,  and  from  heat  and 
cold.  Where  ice-grooves  of  an  arctic  current  point  seawards 
towards  America,  the  Equatorial  Current  now  brings  tropical 
seeds  to  land.  The  people  constantly  pick  up  "nuts,"  and 
they  are  the  "horse-eyes"  and  "brown  purses"  which  are 
the  playthings  of  English  children  in  Jamaica,  "fairy  eggs" 
in  the  Hebrides,  and  "  Ljusne  sten"  in  Iceland. 

In  Achill,  according  to  theory,  there  ought  to  be  drift  in 
the  lee,  and  there  is  so  much  of  it  that  rock-surfaces  are 
almost  wholly  concealed.  At  Westport  and  Lough  Conn,  at 
the  north-eastern  end  of  this  high  ground,  the  rock  ought  to 
be  swept  bare. 

On  leaving  Westport  the  road  passes  up-stream  over  a 
low  hill  about  400  feet  high.  It  separates  the  bay  from  the 
inland  plain,  and  it  stands  in  the  way  of  a  current  flowing  in 
from  the  N.E.  It  is  swept  bare  of  drift,  and  the  rock  is  much 
ground.  Trees  point  from  W.N.W.  and  show  the  usual  run 
of  currents  of  air  ;  rock-ridges  point  W.S.W.  out  into  the  bay, 
and  E.N.E.  up  a  wide  valley  at  the  low  lands  of  central 
Ireland.  From  this  hill  the  road  descends  into  a  rich,  well- 
cultivated  plain,  which  seems  to  be  made  of  drift,  for  rocks 
and  large  boulders  are  hidden. 

At  Castlebar  rock-surfaces  begin  to  appear,  and  they  seem 
to  be  ground  from  the  N.E. 

Thence  to  Cullen  Lake  the  road  passes  over  a  tract  of  low 
country,  where  numerous  boulders, large  blocks,  beds  of  boulder- 


WESTPORT  CURVE.  51 

clay  in  hollows,  and  glaciated  rocks  and  ridges  abound.  The 
country  is  flat  and  boggy,  but  the  block  of  high  land  of  which 
Achill  Island  forms  part  is  close  to  the  plain.  The  plain  is 
about  300  feet  above  the  sea-level.  The  hills  are  about  2000. 
Ice-furrows  run  along  the  road-side,  gradually  sweeping  round 
the  foot  of  the  hill  till  they  point  at  the  narrows  between 
Lough  Conn  and  Lough  Cullen.  Here,  according  to  theory, 
rocks  at  a  north-eastern  corner,  on  a  weather-side,  and  in  a 
low  pass,  ought  to  be  much  ground,  and  swept  clear  of  drift ; 
and  here  in  fact  rocks  are  as  bare  as  hill-tops  in  Scandinavia, 
or  the  straits  at  Oughterard. 

It  is  a  beautiful  spot.  The  road  winds  along  the  shore, 
and  passes  between  the  two  lochs,  beneath  gray  rocks,  amongst 
which  berries,  heather,  fern,  and  graceful  birch-trees  find 
shelter  and  room  to  grow.  Distant  blue  hills  are  mirrored 
in  the  calm  water,  and  beaches  of  yellow  sand  and  mica  glow 
and  glitter  in  the  sun  like  gold  and  diamonds.  High  up,  on 
large  bosses,  ridges,  and  tors,  great  rounded  boulders  and 
rocking-stones  hang  poised  where  legends  tell  that  Finn  and 
his  giants  cast  them,  and  a  pretty  salmon  river  curls  under  a 
bridge  and  joins  the  lakes.  It  is  a  bit  of  Sweden  planted  in 
the  midst  of  Ireland,  and  the  same  agent  has  done  similar 
work  in  both  countries.  More  conspicuous  ice-work  could 
scarcely  be  found,  and  yet  there  is  no  indication  of  land-ice. 
Large  ridges,  and  grooves  upon  them,  all  point  at  low  lands 
along  the  course  which  was  chosen  to  make  a  level  road 
through  the  pass  which  was  a  strait  at  the  500  feet  level. 

The  lines  come  in  from  N.  N.  E.  near  the  river,  pass  S.  S.W. 
through  the  strait,  and  turn  gradually  westward  as  they  pass 
round  the  foot  of  the  hill,  past  Castlebar  and  over  the  plain  to 
the  bare  hill  behind  Westport.  There  the  tall  cone  and  saddle- 
back of  Croagh  Patrick  blocks  the  way,  and  turns  the  course 


52  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

of  currents  of  air  ;  it  seems  to  have  thrown  the  water-stream 
westwards  into  Clew  Bay,  to  join  another  branch  which  came 
in  from  Lough  Conn  to  Newport ;  and  these  two  probably 
dropped  their  burdens  of  drift  in  the  lee  of  the  hills. 

From  Ballina  to  Sligo  the  road  passes  up-stream  over  a  low 
flat  country  which  is  generally  well  cultivated.  Large  blocks 
of  stone  and  smaller  boulders  are  scattered  about,  and  stand 
up  like  monuments  in  the  green  fields.  Wherever  the  soil  is 
broken  glacial  drift  appears,  and  where  rivulets  have  cleared 
their  beds,  the  rock-surface  below  the  drift  is  ground.  For 
many  miles  the  cone  of  Croagh  Patrick  may  still  be  seen  past 
the  shoulder  of  a  hill  of  the  same  A  pattern,  which  rises  west 
of  Lough  Conn,  and  divides  the  glens  which  lead  to  Newport 
and  Westport. 

So  two  groups  of  hills  in  Galway  and  Mayo  appear  to 
record  that  they  were  groups  of  islands  in  a  frozen  sea  which 
moved  south-westward. 

To  the  right  is  a  block  of  high  land  which  reaches  to 
Enniskillen  ;  to  the  left  are  the  mountains  of  Donegal  beyond 
the  bay  ;  and  in  front  is  the  deep  groove  which  crosses  Ireland, 
and  holds  Donegal  Bay  and  Lough  Foyle. 

According  to  theory,  a  N.E.  current  entered  between  Innish- 
owen  and  Ballycastle,  and  split  upon  hills  about  Enniskillen. 
The  Westport  branch  ran  down  past  Ballyshannon  and  Sligo, 
through  Donegal  Bay,  and  branched  off  into  Cle\v  Bay  at  Lough 
Conn;  the  other  joined  a  stream  which  came  in  by  Belfast, 
and  ran  out  by  way  of  Lough  Mask,  Lough  Corrib,  Oughterard, 
and  Galway.  Both  came  from  Scotland.  The  Derry  and  Done- 
gal stream  came  along  the  north  side  of  Ceantire  ;  the  Belfast 
and  Galway  stream  came  from  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  and  they  were 
kept  separate  by  the  mountains  of  Antrim  and  by  Ceantire. 

In   travelling   from   Ballysliannon    to   Enniskillen   these 


WESTPORT  CURVE.  53 

two  streams  are  crossed.  The  south-western  bank  of 
Lough  Erne  is  the  block  of  high  land  which  stretches  to 
Lough  Conn  ;  the  north-eastern  bank  is  low  and  undulating. 
A  depression  of  a  few  hundred  feet  would  sink  the  plain,  and 
make  these  hills  islands.  They  are  beds  of  grit  and  limestone 
nearly  horizontal,  and  from  Sligo  to  Enniskillen  the  hill-faces 
resemble  broken  sea-cliffs.  At  Enniskillen  the  eastern  side 
has  the  same  form,  but  the  low  grounds  about  the  foot  of  the 
hills,  and  the  hill-tops,  are  rounded.  The  lake  itself  seems  to 
be  a  rock-basin  filled  with  mud,  boulders,  and  water.  If  an 
ice-laden  current  beat  upon  the  edge  of  a  stratum  of  limestone 
it  would  tend  to  make  sea-cliffs. 

From  Enniskillen  to  Lough  Foyle  the  stream  is  crossed 
again  by  a  railway.  The  country  is  low  and  flat,  thickly 
covered  with  deep  soil  and  beds  of  clay  and  boulders,  and  no 
rocks  are  to  be  seen  by  a  passing  traveller.  At  Ballyshannon, 
where  a  salmon  stream  worthy  of  Norway  is  cutting  a  drain 
for  Lough  Erne  through  limestone,  fossils  are  weathered  out, 
and  the  rock-surface  is  pitted  like  that  of  weathered  lime- 
stone elsewhere.  In  the  plain  the  rocks  are  hid,  striae  can- 
not be  seen,  but  the  general  shape  of  the  country  remains, 
and  it  tells  of  ice.  Hollows  and  low  ridges  have  one  general 
direction,  and  point  from  or  towards  the  bays  which  here 
approach  each  other  and  make  Donegal  a  peninsula. 

From  Strabane  to  Letterkenny  the  sea  of  rolling  hills  and 
glens  is  crossed  at  the  isthmus.  Every  here  and  there  a 
great  round  stone  in  a  corn-field,  a  dam  built  of  boulders, 
a  gravel-pit,  or  a  bed  of  clay  in  a  burn,  appears  to  give 
evidence  in  favour  of  ice-floats.  So  from  the  end  of  Lough 
Foyle  to  Achill  Head  and  Galway  the  evidence  agrees  so  far. 

At  the  highest  point  on  the  road  between  Letterkenny 
and  Strabane,  400  feet  or  thereabouts,  the  boulders  include 


54  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

"ranites  of  various  sorts,  gray  and  white  quartz  rock,  and 

O 

traps  of  various  colours.  Many  of  these  must  have  travelled 

far  : some  perhaps  from  the  Giant's  Causeway.  The  lines 

point  at  Aberdeen,  and  the  granites  resemble  Aberdeen 
granites  ;  according  to  theory  they  may  have  come  thence,  but 
there  is  granite  close  at  hand  in  Donegal 

From  Letterkcnny  to  Gwcedor  a  coast-road  makes  nearly 
half  a  turn  round  the  north-eastern  corner  of  the  Donegal 
mountains,  or  the  weather-side  of  a  group  of  islands. 

On  leaving  Lctterkcnny  glaciated  rocks  appear  at  about 
400  feet  above  the  sea-level  Eidges  run  N.E.  and  S.W.,  but 
the  rock  is  too  much  weathered  for  small  marks.  Further 
on,  at  the  turn,  the  rocks  are  swept  bare  and  much  ground, 
but  it  is  very  difficult  to  determine  the  direction.  Thence  all 
the  way  to  Gweedor  the  rocks  near  the  sea  are  glaciated,  but 
broken  into  low  cliffs.  A  range  of  lofty  hills — Muckish,  big 
and  little  Ach,  and  Aracul — stand  out  from  the  Deny  Veagh 
range  ;  and  on  the  top  of  the  most  northern  mountain,  about 
2000  feet  high,  a  bed  of  fine  white  sand  is  worked  for  glass- 
making.  It  is  hard  to  understand  how  it  got  there,  or  why  it 
has  not  been  washed  away.  The  road  bends  south-westwards 
along  the  base  of  these  mountains,  which  are  separated  from 
each  other  by  deep  glens. 

If  these  hills  were  islands  in  a  north-eastern  current,  and 
exposed  to  the  Atlantic,  the  inn  at  Gweedor  would  be  at  the 
end  of  a  sea-strait,  and  in  the  lee  of  the  stream.  The  weather- 
side  has  been  swept  clean ;  in  the  supposed  lee  a  large  deposit 
of  glacial  drift  is  piled  at  the  end  of  the  strait.  The  heap 
crosses  the  glen  below  the  lake,  and  rises  more  than  500  feet 
on  the  hill-flanks.  Small  rivulets  have  made  sections,  which 
show  these  low  hills  to  consist  of  sand,  gravel,  large  and 
small  boulders,  all  mixed  confusedly  and  resting  upon  sand- 


DKKKY  VEAGH  CURVE.  55 

stone.  The  river  which  drains  the  lake  cuts  through  the 
mound  in  a  wide  gap  which  looks  as  if  a  glacier  had  ploughed 
it  out  after  the  land  rose.  Many  of  the  larger  stones  in  these 
mounds  are  scored.  The  sweep  of  the  Atlantic  and  the 
prevailing  wind  is  from  the  S.W.  If  sea-waves  driven  by 
S.W.  winds  piled  such  heaps,  these  would  be  in  the  lee  at 
the  north-eastern  end  of  the  range,  which  in  fact  is  swept 
clean,  so  the  evidence  tells  for  movement  from  the  N.E. 

Aracul  is  the  highest  mountain  in  this  tract.  After 
leaving  the  inn,  glaciated  rocks  begin  to  appear  close  to  the 
foot  of  the  hill  at  about  400  feet.  The  ascent  from  this  side 
is  very  steep.  After  passing  over  a  series  of  cairns  of 
angular  quartz  blocks  which  seem  to  have  fallen  from  the 
hill,  a  steep  slope  of  talus,  angle  35°,  leads  up  to  the  foot  of  a 
large  whin  dyke.  This  stands  out  from  the  loose  stones  like 
a  great  cyclopean  wall.  No  better  specimen  of  the  works  of 
fire  is  to  be  found  in  Iceland.  It  runs  south  through  the 
hilL  In  that  direction  a  quarry  has  been  opened  which 
yields  excellent  crystalline  white  marble.  It  is  fine  and 
white  as  that  of  Pentelicus. 

At  about  2200  feet  these  cliffs  are  passed,  and  a  steep 
slope  of  stones,  with  patches  of  heather,  grass,  and  moss  like 
green  velvet,  leads  to  the  top.  From  this  point,  on  a  showery 
day,  with  a  S.W.  wind,  the  march  of  clouds  over  the  Atlantic 
is  seen  in  perfection.  When  a  shower  is  coming,  a  low  ragged 
i'ringe  blots  out  the  horizon  to  windward,  and  advances 
steadily  upon  the  mountain,  seeming  to  eat  up  the  coast-line, 
the  low  country,  and  the  lakes.  Then  a  puff  of  mist  like  a 
wreath  of  gray  smoke  sweeps  up  the  hill-side,  and  then  the 
whole  cloud  sweeps  round  the  top  and  a  sudden  darkness 
wraps  everything  as  in  a  thick  veil.  The  lower  world 
disappears  ;  the  rain  patters  down  and  splashes  against  the 


56  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

stones,  and  the  wind  sweeps  past  with  a  rushing  noise  like 
the  sound  of  the  sea.  There  is  nothing  for  it  but  to  crouch 
under  a  stone,  and  smoke  the  pipe  of  resignation.  In  ten 
minutes  the  cloud  passes  on  its  way  ;  light  dawns  as  suddenly 
as  it  disappeared  ;  coast-line,  plain,  corn-land,  hill  and  moor, 
seem  to  grow  out  of  the  gray  sea  of  mist.  The  sun  wades 
out  into  the  blue  sky,  the  tail  of  the  cloud  creeps  over  the 
highest  peak  of  the  hill,  the  sough  of  the  wind  dies  away, 
and  the  shower  and  the  cloud  are  gone. 

If  the  cloud  were  ice,  the  wind  an  arctic  current,  and  the 
rain  boulders,  it  is  easy  to  comprehend  how  rocks  would  be 
marked,  and  drift  scattered. 

On  the  sides  of  this  particular  hill  there  is  no  vestige  of 
ice-work,  for  it  is  a  broken  ruin.  Looking  down  from  the 
peak,  loose  stones,  which  rains  have  freshly  washed  from  the 
crumbling  sides,  radiate  in  yellow  winding  streams,  like  the 
floods  which  carried  them  to  lower  grounds.  This  hill  is 
weathered.  But  lower  down,  rocks  on  cols  have  the  familiar 
ice-shape,  and  nearly  all  the  lower  hills  to  the  south  are  mani- 
festly ice-ground.  On  the  very  top  of  the  highest  peak  of 
Aracul  one  only  patch  of  the  original  surface  seems  to  be 
preserved.  It  is  a  hard  gray  quartz  rock  about  three  square; 
yards  in  area,  and  smoothed  across  the  joints.  The  surface 
appears  to  be  scored  N.E.  by  N.,  S.W.  by  S.  ;  the  height  is 
2450  feet  above  the  sea. 

This  mark  is  uncertain,  but  about  1000  feet  lower  down  ice- 
marks  are  plain.  On  a  col  about  1500  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
on  a  knob  of  hard  gray  quartz,  grooves  cross  the  col  from  S.E.  to 
N.W.,  in  the  direction  which  a  stream  would  take  if  it  flowed 
through  Glewveagh  and  branched  off  seawards  upon  the  cone 
of  Aracul.  In  the  glen  at  which  these  grooves  point  are  heaps 
of  broken  stones  piled  confusedly,  as  if  swept  there  by  streams 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE.  57 

or  a  glacier.  On  the  col  are  several  large  rounded  boulders 
of  granite,  which  contrast  strangely  with  the  angular  gray 
quartz  of  the  broken  mountains.  One  great  granite  pebble  is 
nine  feet  long  by  six  broad.  At  a  height  of  about  900  feet,  in 
the  pass  by  the  road-side,  the  rocks  are  hidden  beneath  a  mass 
of  boulders  and  clay,  and  the  great  bulk  of  the  stones  are 
foreign  to  the  rocks  upon  which  they  rest.  At  the  top  of  the 
pass  of  Gleuveagh,  about  1100  feet  on  the  side  of  Benduich, 
are  many  well-preserved  granite  surfaces,  upon  which  grooves 
point  E.N.E.  over  the  shoulder  of  a  hill,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Caledonian  Canal,  in  Scotland.  Many  perched  blocks  of  large 
size  are  balanced  upon  these  bare  granite  rocks.  Burns  and 
gravel-pits  by  the  road-side  show  the  whole  of  the  low  grounds 
in  this  pass  to  be  paved  with  drift  beneath  a  carpet  of  peat- 
moss, but  the  col  is  swept  bare,  and  high  up  on  the  sky-line, 
to  the  south,  great  stones  are  poised  in  ranks,  as  if  the  in- 
habitants had  ranged  them  there  to  hurl  upon  offending 
Saxons. 

The  quartz  hills  to  the  north  have  none  of  these  conspicu- 
ous ice-marks  ;  they  are  weathered  quartz  peaks,  but  granite 
has  withstood  the  weather,  and  the  hills  to  the  south  are 
manifestly  ice-ground.  On  one  side  are  talus,  soil,  and 
vegetation  ;  on  the  other,  bare  rock  and  perched  boulders. 
Lower  down  on  the  weather-side  there  is  little  drift  and  much 
glaciation  ;  jointed  tors  and  long  ridges  abound,  and  the  hills 
are  rounded  to  the  very  top.  At  Lough  Veagh  another  great 
pass  runs  S.W.  through  the  hills,  and  here  a  patch  of  drift  or 
a  moraine  makes  a  dam  and  a  beautiful  lake.  At  the  weather- 
end  of  the  next  ridge  a  series  of  grooves  point  N.  and  S.,  at 
an  elevation  of  about  500  feet.  Soon  after  this  the  north-eastern 
end  of  the  Donegal  peninsula  is  passed,  and  the  direction  of  ice- 
grooves  changes.  They  pointed  across  the  stream  at  the  end 


58  BALTIC  CURKENT— BRITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

of  the  ridge,  where  the  streams  split  ;  when  the  end  is  passed 
they  point  along  the  side  of  the  ridge,  and  into  glens  which 
converge  about  the  head  of  Donegal  Bay.  The  spoor  seems 
to  record  movements  like  those  which  are  roughly  shown  on 
the  margin  of  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  496). 

Here,  too,  the  rock  changes — granite  is  left,  flags  are 
reached,  and  heather  and  bog  give  place  to  grass  and  corn- 
fields. But  still  the  old  rocks,  with  their  old-world  inscrip- 
tions, peer  out  all  the  way  down  to  the  sea  at  Lough 
Swilly. 

At  the  holy  rock  of  Tobar-an-doon,  where  sick  pilgrims 
resort  from  all  parts  of  Ireland,  from  Scotland,  and  even  from 
America ;  where  a  garden  of  planted  crutches  and  walking- 
sticks  bears  flowers  and  a  foliage  of  bows  and  rags,  the  votive 
offerings  of  those  who  believe  that  the  holy  well  beside  the 
rock  cured,  or  will  cure,  their  ailments  ;  the  old  rock  upon 
which  Irish  kings  were  crowned  in  the  olden  time — is  an 
ice-ground  tor  ;  and  here  in  the  low  grounds  the  direction  is 
once  more  N.E.  and  S.W. 

So  the  trail  is  clearly  marked  for  a  height  equal  to  that  of 
the  highest  hills  in  the  north  and  west  of  Ireland,  all  the  way 
from  Galway  to  Gweedor,  and  the  lines  all  aim  diagonally 
across  meridians,  northwards  and  eastwards,  except  at  places 
where  a  current  would  split  or  eddy  behind  an  island,  as  the 
wind  now  eddies  behind  the  Irish  hills. 

Three  curves  are  thus  started  from  Galway,  Westport,  and 
Deny  Veagh. 

North-eastern  coast. — The  western  coast  gives  a  broad  clear 
trail,  and  it  points  to  the  X.E.  coast  of  Ireland.  It  was 
crossed  from  Galway  to  Gweedor  northwards ;  the  next  cast, 
like  a  steady  pointer's  range,  should  be  southwards,  the 
other  way. 


WESTPORT  CURVE.  59 

The  north-eastern  corner  of  Ireland  is  about  the  Giant's 
Caiiseway.  From  Deny  a  line  of  rail  leads  over  a  flat,  up- 
stream to  Coleraine,  and  the  first  high  hill  is  at  Ballycastle. 

Looking  N.  E.  from  the  Causeway,  on  a  fine  day,  the  land- 
scape fades  in  the  Sound  of  Jura.  A  north-eastern  line 
passes  near  Loch  Awe  in  Scotland,  and  clears  the  land  of 
Ceantire  ;  a  S.W.  line  passes  over  low  lands  towards  Ennis- 
killen  and  Galway.  The  rocks  of  the  district  are  basalt  or 
chalk,  and  the  boulder  clay  seems  chiefly  to  contain  blocks  of 
basalt.  But  on  the  beach  and  elsewhere,  specimens  of  various 
kinds  of  granite,  of  a  dark  limestone,  of  sandstone,  and  of 
gray  quartz,  are  found. 

Near  the  top  of  the  cliff  ice-striae  are  well  marked  upon 
whinstone,  near  a  wall  They  point  N.E.  by  E.  along  the 
north  shore  of  Ceantire,  and  S.W.  by  W.  along  the  shore  of 
Lough  Foyle.  In  a  field  near  this  spot  is  a  large  wandering 
block  of  trap,  and  near  it  are  several  boulders  of  sandstone, 
greenstone,  and  granite,  some  of  which  are  grooved.  This 
direction  agrees  with  the  run  of  the  flood-tide,  which  splits 
off  the  Giant's  Causeway.  One  branch  pours  up  Lough 
Foyle  in  the  old  groove,  the  other  passes  outside  of  Innish- 
owen,  and  so  north  in  an  eddy.  A  depression  of  500  feet 
would  let  the  flood  pour  through  Donegal  Bay.  Parallel  to 
the  sea-cliffs,  at  some  distance  from  the  shore,  is  a  line  of 
submarine  cliffs,  well  known  to  fishermen,  who  get  fish  in 
the  deep  water. 

If  heavy  ice  were  now  floating  in  the  Irish  Channel,  and 
grounding  upon  the  top  of  this  lower  shelf,  some  200  feet 
below  the  sea,  ice-floats  would  make  parallel  marks  similar  to 
those  which  now  exist  on  the  top  of  the  upper  shelf,  about 
300  feet  above  the  sea.  If  the  upper  cliff  were  under  water 
half  Ireland  would  be  submerged.  If  it  were  2000  feet  under 


60  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — IRELAND. 

water,  and  the  sea  over  Shan  Folagh,  large  bergs,  like  those 
which  now  pass  Cape  Farewell,  might  ground  at  the  Giant's 
Causeway.  If  the  depression  was  general  in  Europe,  the  sea- 
way would  be  open  to  the  polar  basin.  (See  map,  voL  i.  p.  232.) 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  these  marks  ;  they  are  ice- 
grooves  crossing  each  other  at  a  small  angle.  They  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  in  kind  as  grooves  which  are  found  on  the 
top  of  basaltic  cliffs,  within  sight  of  glaciers,  near  the  edge  of 
the  Arctic  Current,  at  the  foot  of  Snsefell  at  Stapi  in  Iceland 
(chap,  xxv.)  There  the  grooves  point  at  glaciers,  basalt,  and 
lava,  and  at  the  top  of  a  volcano ;  here  they  point  at  low 
lands  and  sounds,  where  the  tide  still  moves  in  curves  parallel 
to  the  old  ice-grooves.  And  here  the  works  of  fire  are  as 
manifest  as  they  are  at  Staffa  and  Stapi. 

From  Ballycastle  to  Cuskendal  the  road  passes  over  a  spur 
of  the  Antrim  hills,  and  reaches  as  high  as  800  feet.  The 
higher  it  goes  the  more  drift  there  is,  and  at  the  highest  point 
the  rocks  are  ground  but  weathered.  To  the  N.  E.  is  the  Mull 
of  Ceantire,  so  this  part  of  the  coast  was  in  the  lee  of  the 
Scottish  Land's  End,  between  two  streams  or  tides  which 
passed  through  Lough  Foyle  to  Donegal  Bay,  and  through 
Belfast  Lough  to  Galway  Bay. 

From  Cushendal  to  Glenarm  the  road  coasts  along  the 
sea-margin  beneath  cliffs  of  chalk  capped  with  whin.  The 
contrast  of  white  and  brown,  with  all  possible  shades  of  green 
and  blue  and  purple,  on  land  and  sea,  and  in  the  distance, 
make  these  cliffs  very  beautiful.  The  beach  is  composed  of 
boulders,  chiefly  whinstone,  but  pink  granite  is  to  be  seen 
here  and  there. 

When  rocks  whose  colours  are  so  conspicuous  are  thus 
placed,  transported  fragments  are  like  thistle-down  which  a 
deer-stalker  throws  up  to  find  out  the  direction  of  a  breeze 


GALWAY  CURVE.  61 

A  bit  of  "  Irish  limestone "  used  to  form  part  of  a  child's 
museum,  on  the  opposite  coast ;  a  flint  is  a  rare  stone  beyond 
the  Giant's  Causeway.  There  are  none  on  the  opposite  coasts 
of  Scotland — flints  were  buried  with  their  owners  in  Ross- 
shire  and  in  Arran.  Boulders  on  the  opposite  Scotch  coasts 
are  chiefly  gray  quartz,  like  hills  to  the  north  and  east  of  the 
Hebrides.  But  if  the  south-western  line  is  followed,  Irish 
drift  is  full  of  chalk  and  trap.  Professor  Jukes  says  (Manual 
of  Geology,  p.  675) — "Chalk  flints  and  pieces  of  hard  Antrim 
chalk  are  found  in  the  drift  in  the  counties  of  Dublin  and 
Wicklow,  up  to  heights  of  one  or  two  hundred  feet,  and  along 
the  whole  eastern  and  southern  coast  of  Ireland,  at  least  as 
far  as  Ballycotton  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Cork." 

The  tides  run  both  ways,  but  this  drift  went  S.W.,  which 
again  supports  a  theory  of  a  Baltic  current. 

Opposite  to  the  Antrim  hills  at  Clandeboyc,  in  County 
Down,  an  isolated  hill  of  slaty  quartz  rises  upon  the  southern 
point  of  Belfast  Lough.  The  hill  is  ice-ground,  and  the  striae 
at  about  600  feet  point  N.E.  by  N.  at  Arran,  and  S.W.  by  S. 
at  the  shoulder  of  the  Mourne  Mountains,  in  the  direction  of 
Galway.  From  "  Helen's  Tower,"  on  the  top  of  this  hill,  a 
magnificent  panorama  includes  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  the 
opposite  coasts  from  the  Mull  of  Ceantire  to  Cumberland. 

Belfast  stands  at  the  head  of  a  long  lough,  in  a  hollow 
which  stretches  far  inland.  The  hollow  is  bounded  on  the 
N.W.  by  a  range  of  hills,  extending  south-westward  from 
Lame.  These  are  of  trap  or  chalk,  and  where  they  are  not 
broken  away  in  cliffs  they  are  rounded.  At  600  feet  a  large 
wandering  block  of  whin  stands  in  a  green  field,  where  it 
must  have  been  carried.  At  1450  feet,  on  the  top  of  one  of 
these  hills,  another  large  block  is  planted.  It  has  been  split 
by  gunpowder,  but  the  rounded  forms  of  the  fragments  con- 


62  BALTIC   CURRENT— BEITISH  ISLES— IRELAND. 

trast  with  the  fracture,  and  betray  the  origin  of  the  stone. 
From  this  point  the  ground  slopes  in  all  directions,  and  long 
heather  slopes  stretch  inland  towards  Lough  Neagh.  A  long 
search  on  these  hill-tops  failed  to  discover  a  rock-surface. 
Some  snipes,  a  grouse,  a  collie-dog,  and  a  keeper  were  found, 
and  the  latter,  on  being  questioned,  exclaimed,  "  What,  in 
heaven's  name,  do  you  want  with  rocks  ? "  Quarries  in  the 
hill-side  show  that  the  rounded  forms  of  these  hills  are  due 
to  denudation,  and  the  glen  gives  the  same  direction  as  the 
grooves  at  Helen's  Tower.  The  form  remains,  but  the  exposed 
surface  and  all  small  marks  have  crumbled  away. 

Another  hill  of  about  the  same  height  gave  a  similar  re- 
sult. On  the  side  of  Cave  Hill  a  large  quarry  facing  Belfast 
gives  a  fine  section  of  the  chalk,  with  its  dykes  and  cover  of 
trap.  A  thin  bed  of  red  and  yellow  baked  flints  divides  the 
two.  The  dykes  appear  to  have  cooled,  and  set  at  the  sides 
of  the  fissures  through  which  the  melted  stone  rose,  and  the 
chalk  in  the  walls  of  the  vein  of  trap  is  hard  and  brittle  as  if 
it  had  been  heated. 

Above  the  trap  is  a  layer  of  loose  brown  earth,  containing 
numerous  rounded  stones,  chiefly  trap.  The  chalk  from  this 
quarry  is  used  for  ballast,  and  ballast  when  done  with  is 
thrown  overboard  ;  ships  from  Belfast  sail  far,  so  a  lump  of 
Antrim  chalk  on  a  beach  must  not  be  taken  as  evidence  of 
natural  movement  in  the  sea.  About  1000  feet  up  this  hill 
is  a  large  rounded  stone,  different  from  the  rock  beneath  it. 
At  the  top,  1300  feet,  are  more  loose  stones,  but  the  rock  is 
hidden.  The  sea-face  is  a  cliff.  The  chalk  has  been  under- 
mined, and  the  trap  has  split  off  and  sunk  down  like  the 
Undercliff  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Looking  towards  central 
Ireland  from  this  hill-top,  there  is  no  high  land  to  stop  the 
movement  which  marked  the  hill  at  Clandeboye.  The  Mourne 


GALWAY  CURVE.  63 

Mountains  are  there,  but  they  fade  away  inland.  At  600  feet 
the  whole  land  from  Belfast  to  the  Mourne  hills  would  be  a 
wide  strait.  It  is  now  the  line  of  various  canals  and  railways, 
works  which  follow  level  ground  and  avoid  mountains.  Far 
as  the  eye  can  reach  is  a  level  horizon  or  an  undulating 
plain. 

When  all  the  lines  thus  found  ruled  upon  a  few  Irish  hills 
are  laid  down  on  a  map,  and  carried  at  the  proper  level  from 
hill  to  hill  ;  over  plain,  glen,  and  sea ;  they  are  found  to  have 
a  common  general  direction.  Galway  lines  point  towards 
Antrim  hills.  Lines  at  Clandeboye  point  along  the  south  side 
of  Ceantire  at  Arran  in  Scotland.  Lines  near  Westport  point 
at  Lough  Conn,  and  there  lines  point  at  Lough  Foyle.  At  the 
Giant's  Causeway,  at  the  mouth  of  Lough  Foyle,  lines  point 
along  the  north  shore  of  Ceantire  towards  Inverary  and  Oban. 
At  Glen  Veagh  lines  point  towards  Mull  and  the  Caledonian 
Canal.  The  lines  seem  to  agree  with  hollows  laid  down  on 
good  maps.  Either  the  lines  of  movement  were  governed  by 
the  form  of  the  land,  or  the  form  of  the  land  was  altered  by 
the  movement.  But  it  is  admitted  that  the  form  of  the 
rock-surface  is  a  result  of  denudation,  and  where  ice  is  work- 
ing in  earnest  now,  as  it  is  off  Labrador,  rocks  seem  to 
crumble  like  mole-hills  before  the  mighty  force.  Looking  to 
the  geology  of  Ireland,  harder  rocks  are  in  the  hills,  and  softer 
generally  in  hollows.  Looking  to  the  ice-marks,  it  is  clear 
that  ice  has  worked  in  Ireland  up  to  a  height  of  2000  feet. 
Taking  the  whole  evidence,  it  seems  that  denudation,  and 
transport  of  a  great  mass  of  debris,  have  resulted  in  northern 
Ireland  from  a  general  south-westerly  movement  in  a  current 
laden  with  heavy  ice,  which  continued  to  flow  till  land  rose 
and  stopped  the  movement. 

The  people  of  Antrim  and  the  N.E.  of  Ireland  hail  from 


64 


BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES — IRELAND. 


Scotland,  as  they  say.  The  lines  drawn  by  ice  on  Irish  rocks 
aim  back  at  Scotland ;  so  the  next  cast  must  be  taken  beyond 
the  sea,  and  this  time  northwards. 


Fio.  74.   Acmr.i,  UK/ 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

BALTIC   CURRENT   4 — BRITISH   ISLES   4 — SCOTLAND — 
GALWAY  CURVE — ARRAN. 

THE  ice-lines  on  the  east  coast  of  Northern  Ireland  seemed  to 
converge  on  Arran,  Ceantire,  and  Loch  Linne ;  so  the  Irish 
spoor  must  be  followed  past  the  Mull  of  Ceantire  by  the 
Galway  and  Westport  curves. 

Galway  curve,  Firthof  Clyde,  C  umbrae. — Steamboats  follow 
the  Galway  curve  up-stream  from  Belfast  to  Ardrossan.  On 
that  coast  no  observations  are  recorded,  and  none  were  made 
on  this  journey  ;  but  ice-marks  abound  in  Ayrshire. 

On  the  Cumbraes,  an  arrow  on  Mr.  Geikie's  map  *  points 
nearly  south,  out  of  the  Firth.  It  is  a  low-level  mark  corre- 
sponding to  the  run  of  the  ebb. 

Arran. — On  Arran  no  arrows  are  marked  by  Geikie.  The 
hills  are  well  seen  from  the  Ayrshire  coast,  and  to  them  the 
high  grooves  in  Connemara  and  Antrim  point. 

The  high  ground  forms  a  block  which  is  still  surrounded 
with  water.  The  granite  mountains  differ  in  shape  from  the 
granite  hills  of  Connemara  ;  they  are  higher,  and  down  to 
a  certain  level,  about  2000  feet,  Goatfell  and  his  giant 
brethren  are  broken  weathered  peaks  A.  They  are  like 
jagged  mountains  which  tower  above  ice  in  Spitzbergen  and 
in  the  Alps.  But  in  Arran,  and  elsewhere  about  the  Clyde, 
hills  below  2000  feet  are  rounded  like  ice-ground  hills 
everywhere  '*— ^ .  Above  Lamlash,  a  long  glen  and  a  steep 

*  On  the  Phenomena  of  the  Glacial  Drift  of  Scotland,  by  A.  Geikie  ;  1863. 
VOL.   II.  F 


66  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

road  lead  over  to  the  south  end  of  Arran.  At  800  feet,  close 
to  the  road-side,  ice-grooves  are  well  marked  on  sandstone  ; 
they  point  N.E.  by  N.  and  N.E.  at  the  shoulder  of  the  Holy  Isle, 
and  S.W.  over  the  col  at  Ireland.  At  this  level  the  stream 
would  not  be  influenced  by  the  low  Ayrshire  coast,  for  800 
feet  of  water  would  sink  most  of  the  low  lands.  To  the  south 
of  the  road  is  a  hill-top  1350  feet  high.  Here,  on  a  rock 
which  has  the  form  of  glaciation,  a  deep  groove  points  N.E. 
by  N.  over  the  Cumbraes  at  Ben  Lomond.  In  the  other 
directions  a  stick  nearly  clears  the  Mull  of  Ceantire,  and 
points  at  Antrim.  At  this  level  a  stream  would  be  free  to 
move  over  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

These  marks  were  not  made  by  land-glaciers,  for  they  do 
not  point  at  the  high  mountains  beside  them.  They  seem  to 
belong  to  the  hollow  which  crosses  the  south  end  of  Arran 
diagonally,  and  to  a  stream  which  flowed  through  it. 

In  the  deep  glen  which  runs  south-westward,  enormous 
masses  of  drift  are  piled ;  but  the  drift  is  not  arranged  in 
conical  heaps  like  a  moraine.  In  the  glen  which  runs  N.E.  there 
is  less  drift.  Trees  show  the  prevailing  direction  of  the  wind 
to  be  S.W.,  for  the  branches  point  up-stream  in  one  glen,  and 
down-stream  in  the  other. 

Arran,  western  coast. — A  road  coasts  northwards  along 
the  back  of  the  island.  At  a  point  called  Leaca  Bhreaca 
(Speckled  Slabs)  certain  igneous  rocks  are  much  weathered, 
but  ice-ground  to  a  great  height.  At  200  feet  or  thereabout, 
grooves  are  distinct ;  they  run  horizontally  along  the  hill 
which  faces  Ceantire  ;  at  this  spot  these  contour-lines  run 
N.,  S.  Perched  blocks  and  jointed  tors  are  numerous  up  to 
the  sky-line.  In  the  lee  of  this  point  to  the  south  are  great 
beds  of  drift  which  contain  stones  of  many  kinds,  but  one 
pattern.  After  a  long  search  no  flints  or  Antrim  chalk  were 


GALWAY  CURVE — ARRAN.  67 

found.  North  of  this  promontory,  another  deep  glen  leads  to 
Brodick  over  a  pass,  and  the  coast-land  is  a  wide  Hat  moor. 
Over  this  a  path  leads  to  the  King's  Caves.  Close  to  the 
sea  is  a  fine  mass  of  columnar  basalt. 

At  Machuri  the  drift  is  arranged  in  ten-aces,  which  look 
like  ancient  sea-margins,  but  these  are  chiefly  composed  of 
glacial  drift. 

The  actual  sea-beach,  where  no  ice  now  forms,  is  a  good 
specimen  of  its  class.  It  is  a  hollow  curved  slope  of  large 
stones,  with  ripples  of  coarse  gravel  about  high-water  mark, 
and  a  calm  of  sand  below  it ;  but  every  here  and  there  a 
great  ice-boulder  is  planted  in  the  midst  of  these  stone-waves 
like  a  beacon  amongst  breakers.  About  Dubhgarrie  walls 
are  a  curious  study.  They  are  made  of  big  stones  found 
about  the  sea-margin  ;  they  were  washed  out  of  the  drift- 
terraces  by  the  sea,  and  they  have  been  broken  by  men  so  as 
to  show  their  internal  structure.  Some  blocks  are  conglomer- 
ates, which  contain  rounded  water-worn  quartz  boulders  as  big 
as  turnips,  bits  of  water-worn  granite,  gray  and  red  sandstone, 
and  other  stones  all  cemented  with  a  coarse  hard  reddish 
cement.  Others  are  blocks  of  old  red  sandstone,  which  con- 
tain large  pebbles  of  water-worn  quartz  with  the  sand  packed 
round  them,  as  sand  is  packed  about  pebbles  on  the  sea-beach. 
Others  are  blocks  of  granite  veiy  like  those  which  are  found 
on  the  beach  near  the  Giant's  Causeway,  and  along  the  Antrim 
coast.  There  are  many  chips  broken  from  Arran  hills,  but 
amongst  them  are  no  bits  of  Antrim  flint  or  chalk. 

At  the  house  of  Dubhgarrie,  at  the  end  of  the  longest  and 
deepest  glen  in  Arran,  a  river  is  crossed.  It  rises  amongst 
the  highest  hills,  2874  feet.  Here  is  a  washed  moraine  with 
conical  hillocks  and  terraces.  A  little  beyond  the  house  the 
road  passes  under  a  steep  bank  of  brushwood  growing  on 


68  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH   ISLES— SCOTLAND. 

glacial  drift.  A  few  streamlets  have  cut  scars  in  this  face, 
which  is  about  100  feet  high.  The  bank  contains  scratched 
and  polished  stones  of  aU  sizes  imbedded  in  fine  gray  clay, 
very  unlike  the  common  drift-clay. 

This  then  appears  to  be  a  record  of  the  local  glacier- 
system  of  Arran,  a  museum  of  Arran  stones  brought  down  to 
the  sea,  and  partially  arranged  by  the  sea. 

At  lomachar  the  north-western  corner  of  the  island  is 
reached.  There  a  sea-cliff  about  150  feet  high  rises  above  a 
beach  of  rolled  stones  and  broken  crags.  This  is  modern  sea- 
work,  but  the  rock-surface  on  the  top  of  the  cliff  is  ice- 
ground.  It  is  so  weathered  and  worn,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  the  direction  with  certainty.  The  rock  is  contorted 
slate,  and  on  it  rounded  blocks  of  compact  granite  are  perched 
at  this  level. 

At  a  little  more  than  1000  feet,  on  the  shoulder  of  a  hill 
which  makes  the  base  of  Ben  Bhanriyh  (the  Queen's  HOI), 
ice-scores  are  very  well  preserved  on  a  smooth  patch  of  slate, 
which  appears  from  under  the  peat-moss.  The  direction  at 
this  promontory  is  again  N.  and  S.  A  stick  aims  nearly  at 
Skipness  Point,  and  at  the  Mull  of  Ceantire,  along  the  run  of 
the  coast.  A  little  lower  down,  and  further  from  the  hill, 
scores  upon  similar  rocks  point  N.N.E. 

At  WTvitefarlane,  close  to  the  road-side,  at  less  than  100 
feet  above  the  sea,  stria?  on  slate  are  very  clear.  They  point 
N.E.  by  N.,  and  so  do  bent  trees  beside  them.  Grooves  are 
tool-marks  of  ice  and  water-streams ;  trees  are  shaped  by 
streams  of  air ;  the  equinoctial  gale  followed  the  run  of  the 
Arctic  Current,  and  both  were  driven  by  the  same  forces  past 
this  spot  in  opposite  directions. 

The  Galway  curve  is  carried  over  Arran  at  Lamlash  at 
1300  feet,  and  past  the  west  and  north-west  corners  of  Arran 


GALWAY  CURVE — ARRAN.  69 

at  more  than  1000.  To  account  for  these  marks  by  land-ice 
alone,  a  glacier  must  be  imagined  reaching  from  1350  feet  to 
the  sea-bottom,  and  from  Ceantire  to  the  nearest  hills  of  equal 
height  on  the  mainland  of  Scotland.  To  account  for  the 
marks  by  floating  ice,  like  that  which  is  working  off  Labrador 
in  the  same  latitude,  a  change  of  climate  and  of  sea-level 
must  be  assumed. 

The  run  of  the  tide  in  the  Sound  corresponds  to  the  ice- 
lines  on  the  hill ;  the  wind  follows  the  ice-grooves  along  the 
hill  1000  feet  higher.  A  south-westerly  breeze,  which  soon 
became  an  equinoctial  gale,  and  whose  path  along  the  sea 
was  marked  by  blue  squalls  and  crisp  waves,  swept  the  fringe 
of  a  low  cloud  of  sea-mist  northwards  along  the  hill  at  the 
high  level.  Further  up  the  Sound  the  same  south-west  wind 
curled  round  the  hills  and  blew  from  the  south-west ;  further 
up  it  blew  from  the  west.  In  the  lee  of  the  mountain  the  sea- 
mist  hung  and  boiled  and  rolled  over  and  over.  A  stream  of 
water  of  equal  depth  moving  the  other  way  would  move 
solid  floats  as  the  wind  moved  clouds  ;  surely  the  stream  did 
flow  here,  and  the  floating  solids  have  recorded  the  fact. 

In  the  night,  when  the  breeze  became  a  storm,  it  was  a 
Dutchman's  hurricane,  straight  up  and  down,  in  the  glens.  It 
surged  over  the  hills  like  great  rollers  on  a  beach,  and  plunged 
down  upon  the  house-tops,  as  if  to  crush  them ;  and  ocean- 
streams  must  roll  over  sunken  hills  in  the  same  way. 

At  Cath-mihic-Dhuil,  which  strangers  have  baptized  Cati- 
kill,  and  at  Loch  Ranza,  are  two  long  glens  which  held  glaciers,  - 
for  terraced  moraines  are  near  the  sea.     A  lofty  ridge  divides 
the  glens,  and  the  hill-top  was  a  good  point  for  high  grooves. 

Loch  Ranza. — Up  to  1300  feet,  rocks  on  this  ridge  arc 
ice-ground,  but  so  weathered  that  the  direction  is  hard  to 
make  out.  On  a  shoulder  at  this  level  many  large  boulders 


70  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH   ISLES— SCOTLAND. 

of  granite  (some  six  feet  long)  are  poised  011  slate  saddles. 
The  smoothest  side  of  these  slate  knolls  points  N.N.E.,  the 
broken  side  S.S.W.  The  dip  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
shape  and  fracture.  These  forms  give  the  direction  given 
by  grooves  at  1000  feet,  and  the  wind  which  followed  the 
o-rooves  below  blew  against  the  fractured  side  of  the  rock  here. 

O  O 

At  1400  feet,  a  deep  groove  in  granite  again  pointed  down 
wind  N.E.,  over  everything  in  Arran  and  Bute,  up  the  Firth 
of  Clyde,  at  hille  about  Ben  Lomond. 

So  the  Galway  curve  is  here  carried  over  Arran  at  1400  feet. 

At  the  top  of  the  ridge,  1800  feet  or  thereabouts,  several 
large  stones  had  been  moved  a  few  yards  from  their  beds 
towards  the  S.W.,  but  here  the  granite  is  weathering  fast, 
and  has  weathered  so  far  as  to  obliterate  all  small  marks. 

Gravel  as  large  as  peas,  scudding  before  a  gale,  was  form- 
ing tiny  beaches  in  front  of  every  heather-bush  and  peat-bank ; 
and  rain-drops  pattered,  and  splashed,  and  rattled  against 
the  hill,  driven  by  the  gale.  It  was  bad  weather  for  spooring 
on  high  grounds. 

Low  Marks. — In  the  bottom  of  the  glen  near  Loch  Kauza, 
about  200  feet  above  the  sea,  is  a  fine  section  of  an  ancient 
water-washed  moraine.  It  is  chiefly  composed  of  granite 
gravel  swept  from  the  hills,  and  of  very  large  granite  boulders, 
which  something  stronger  than  wind  and  water  must  have 
piled  there  ;  but  this  is  not  a  perfect  moraine,  the  surface  had 
been  worn  down.  Lower  down,  stones,  sand,  and  gravel  are 
ranged  in  terraces,  and  packed  upon  a  different  principle.  The 
stones  are  sorted  in  sizes,  and  laid  in  sloping  beds,  where  the 
rivers  shot  them  out  during  floods  and  low  waters.  These  are 
the  washings  of  moraines  arranged  by  burns  in  the  sea.  At  the 
mouth  of  the  loch  in  the  sea  is  a  ridge  of  stones  washed  into 
another  shape,  and  arranged  on  a  different  plan,  by  the  ebb 


GALWAY  CURVE — ARRAN.  71 

and  flow  of  the  tide,  and  by  sea-waves.  An  old  castle  stands 
on  the  sea-bar  to  mark  a  date,  and  amongst  the  gravel  at  the 
point  a  large  block  of  granite  stands  firm  in  the  station  which 
it  took  up  before  the  castle  was  built.  From  Loch  Eanza 
to  the  south  end  of  Arran,  and  along  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
island,  similar  large  granite  boulders  are  planted  on  the  beach  ; 
and  more  boulders  of  the  same  kind  are  perched  on  the  top  of 
the  Holy  Isle,  according  to  a  work  on  the  geology  of  Arran.* 

Thus  granite  blocks  and  ice-marks,  in  situ,  can  be  traced 
from  the  central  high  hills  to  the  south  end  of  Arran,  but 
there  are  traces  of  two  kinds  of  glaciation.  In  the  glens  are 
marks  of  a  large  local  system,  but  high  up  on  watersheds  are 
marks  of  something  larger.  According  to  theory  these  high 
marks  record  the  passage  of  the  same  arctic  current  whose 
traces  were  found  at  Belfast,  and  in  Connemara  ;  because  ice- 
grooves  point  from  the  E.  of  N.  to  the  W.  of  S.  in  this  district. 

Having  earned  the  Galway  curve  thus  far,  the  Westport 
curve  must  be  carried  a  stage  if  possible.  Having  beat  round 
Arran,  and  found  the  spoor  as  high  as  1400  feet,  and  all 
round  the  coast,  the  next  cast  is  northwards  across  the  stream 
to  Ceantire. 

*  Geology  in  Clydesdale  and  Arran,  embracing  the  Marine  Zoology  and  the 
Flora  of  Arran,  etc.  By  James  Bryce,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  F.G.S. 

This  author  says,  at  p.  15,  that  he  had  failed  to  discover  any  decided 
cases  of  glacier  moraines  in  Arran.  He  mentions  piles  of  drift  at  the  mouth 
of  Glen  lorsa,  and  at  "Cataeol,"  which  are  mentioned  above,  as  moraines 
washed  out  of  shape.  Mr.  Bryce  attributes  them  to  currents  of  water  sweep- 
ing these  glens  when  the  area  was  rising  from  beneath  the  sea.  At  pp.  86  and 
87,  and  elsewhere,  terminal  and  lateral  moraines  are  mentioned  and  described 
at  higher  levels  in  these  Arran  glens ;  and  at  p.  89,  the  combined  action  of 
local  glaciers  and  ice-floats  is  suggested  to  account  for  the  dispersion  and 
placing  of  blocks  of  native  granite,  which  are  perched  on  distant  high  points 
in  Arran,  such  as  the  Holy  Isle  at  which  high  grooves  above  Lamlash  point 
(see  p.  66).  The  author  has  failed  to  notice  these  and  other  high  marks  which 
would  have  helped  his  argument.  This  seems  to  be  the  work  of  an  able  geolo- 
gist who  changed  his  first  opinion  after  careful  examination  and  due  com- 
parison with  other  parts  of  the  country,  so  his  evidence  is  the  more  valuable. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  5— BRITISH  ISLES  5— SCOTLAND  2 — WESTPORT 
CURVE — CEANTIRE. 

BETWEEN  the  Galway  and  Westport  curves  is  Ceantire,  at  which 
place  grooves  at  the  Giant's  Causeway  pointed.  A  steamer 
runs  from  Loch  Ranza  to  Campbelton,  and  thence  a  road  leads 
to  the  lighthouse  at  the  Scotch  Land's  End.  The  east  coast  is 
broken  and  weather-beaten  all  the  way,  but  the  highest  hills 
are  rounded.  At  Camqjbelton  the  hills  are  very  unlike  ice-work. 
Not  a  symptom  of  glacial  action  could  be  traced  up  to  the  top 
of  a  hill  1100  feet  high  which  rises  south  of  the  town.  But  if 
the  sea  were  1000  feet  deeper,  the  town  and  the  country  between 
the  two  seas  would  be  about  990  feet  under  water.  This 
district  has  been  swept  and  the  surface  destroyed  by  the  sea. 
There  is  no  trace  of  old  ice  in  the  low  grounds  further 
west.  A  few  suspicious  boulders  at  the  end  of  glens  may 
possibly  be  remnants  of  moraines  or  drift,  but  these  are  few 
and  far  between.  Within  four  miles  of  ilie  lighthouse,  rocks 
on  high  grounds  begin  to  assume  the  familiar  shape,  and  at 
a  height  of  700  feet,  a  large  block  is  perched  upon  a  rounded 
hill-shoulder  to  the  right  of  the  road.  At  900  feet,  some 
blocks  of  rounded  granite  peer  through  the  moss  by  the  road- 
side, and  beside  them  are  lumps  of  the  crumpled  contorted 
slate  of  the  country.  Fifty  yards  further,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  road,  is  a  well-preserved  surface.  It  is  a  miniature  tor, 
and  a  deep  groove  on  the  top  of  it  points  nearly  E.  and  W., 
at  the  notch  through  which  the  road  passes. 


WESTPORT  CURVE — CEANTIRE.  73 

Over  the  brow  to  the  south  of  the  road,  hills  rise  to  a 
height  of  1260  feet,  according  to  a  barometer  which  passing 
gales  made  an  uncertain  guide  for  the  time.  All  these  tops 
have  glaciated  surfaces,  broken  short  off  on  the  Irish  side  ; 
and  the  run  of  hollows  and  hill-sides,  and  of  ridges  of  rock, 
nearly  agrees  with  the  opposite  hollow  in  which  Belfast  Lough 
now  ebbs  and  flows.  But  all  fine  lines  seemed  worn  out  of 
the  contorted  broken  mica-slate.  One  hill-top  after  another 
was  drawn  blank.  After  a  long  search  some  very  remarkable 
grooves  were  found  below  the  brow,  at  the  very  end  of  the 
Mull.  They  are  on  a  point  of  hard  rock  at  1080  feet  or  there- 
abouts. Two  smooth  regular  deep  grooves,  about  six  feet  long, 
run  parallel  to  each  other,  so  as  to  cut  out  a  narrow  ridge 
upon  which  a  man  could  ride.  One  groove  is  a  foot  deep, 
and  two  feet  wide,  the  other  about  the  same  size.  Part  of 
this  rock  has  split  off  and  fallen,  and  large  blocks  of  it  lie 
below  the  solid  point.  The  fragments  are  deeply  grooved, 
and  these  marks  ran  parallel  to  the  others,  before  they  split  off. 

One  of  these  fallen  grooves  ends  suddenly,  so  that  the 
hollow  would  fit  a  man's  head  like  a  stone  helmet.  The 
grooves  cut  through  the  edge  of  beds  in  the  stone,  and  the 
whole  rock  is  rounded.  In  profile  it  has  the  form  of  a  great 
gray  leech,  and  Fair  Head  in  Ireland  is  seen  over  the  rounded 
back.  A  stick  laid  in  one  of  the  grooves  points  W.N.W.  just 
outside  the  Rhinns  of  Islay,  along  the  run  of  the  tide,  which 
hurries  past  heaving  and  boiling  1000  feet  below.  Here  then 
a  stream  bearing  ice  once  curled  round  the  Mull,  and  ran,  as 
streams  now  run,  from  Loch  Fyne  and  the  Kyles  of  Bute, 
round  Skipness  Point,  along  the  Sound  of  Kilbrannan,  and 
past  the  great  Scotch  rendezvous  for  modern  storms  and  tides. 

These  smooth  grooves  are  all  the  more  remarkable  from 
the  shattered  rocks  which  surround  them  on  all  sides.  It 


74  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH   ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

remained  to  be  seen  if  waves  and  streams  make  similar  marks 
at  the  shore,  without  the  help  of  ice,  and  after  a  close  search 
no  o-rooves  were  found.  The  coast-line  is  made  up  of  angular 
forms,  land-slips,  rifts,  riven  cliffs  ready  to  slip,  and  vast  piles 
of  broken  fallen  cliffs,  amongst  which  a  wild  sea  raged  and 
roared,  while  the  wind  drove  spray,  cutting  showers  of  rain, 
and  hail  scudding  over  land  and  sea.  About  the  aiguilles 
of  Mont  Blanc  (chap,  xii.)  similar  piles  of  ruin  are  strewn  ; 
here  all  the  power  of  the  Atlantic  has  failed  to  obliterate  high 
ice-marks  on  the  brow  of  the  Mull  of  Ceantire. 

From  Campbelton  to  Glenbar  the  road  coasts  the  Atlantic 
for  twelve  miles  along  the  north  shore.  The  rocks  about  this 
level  are  all  shattered  and  riven,  and  the  power  of  ocean- 
waves  is  displayed  in  the  grand  tumbling  surf  which  rolls  in 
upon  the  sand  at  Machariehanish  Bay.  On  the  land  side  are 
piles  of  drift,  which  seem  at  first  to  be  hills  of  blown  sand, 
but  the  sand  covers  heaps  of  large  stones.  At  Glenbar  the 
mouth  of  a  glen  running  north-eastwards  towards  Arran  is 
passed,  and  there  numbers  of  large  polished  and  grooved 
blocks  of  hard  stone,  foreign  to  the  district,  had  been  freshly 
dragged  from  a  field,  and  were  piled  along  the  road-side  for 
building  fences.  The  ice-marks  on  these  were  quite  fresh. 
The  Giant's  Causeway  bears  8.W.  by  W.  from  this  spot,  and 
is  clearly  seen  on  a  fine  day.  Ice-marks  at  the  Giant's  Cause- 
way pointed  N.  E.  by  E.  into  Glenbar,  and  along  the  shore  of 
Ceantire.  There  is  no  Antrim  chalk  at  Glenbar,  but  there  is 
granite  in  Antrim.  From  this  glen  to  the  mouth  of  West 
Loch  Tarbert  the  coast  gradually  loses  the  shattered  form  of 
ocean  denudation,  and  smooth  ice-work  is  better  preserved 
as  the  shelter  is  reached.  Rocks  are  less  and  less  broken  as 
the  mainland  is  approached,  and  as  one  island  break  water 
after  another  shuts  out  the  waves.  As  the  western  surf 


WESTPORT  CURVE — CEANTIRE.  75 

decreases  hi  power,  and  waves  get  smaller,  rifts  and  geos 
become  hollows  ;  cliffs  change  to  ridges  and  tors  ;  patches  of 
drift  with  stones  appear  on  hill-sides,  more  large  boulders  are 
seen  on  the  shore,  and  every  rock-form  points  into  Loch 
Tarbert,  and  the  wide  hollow  in  which  it  lies,  as  the  direction 
from  which  some  grinding  force  moved.  At  Fronichean,  upon 
the  top  of  an  isolated  hill  about  200  feet  high,  a  weathered 
surface  is  preserved,  so  that  the  direction  can  be  deter- 
mined by  deep  grooves  and  other  sure  marks.  At  this  spot 
ice  moved  from  N.E.  towards  the  island  of  Cara. 

At  about  100  feet  above  the  clachan  the  marks  are  fresh. 
The  rock  is  smooth  and  rounded,  and  straight  grooves  on  it, 
from  one  and  a  half  to  three  inches  wide,  from  half  an  inch  to 
an  inch  deep,  and  some  more  than  six  feet  long,  prove  that  ice 
moved  from  E.N.E.  at  this  spot.  At  300  feet  on  the  same 
hill  the  general  form  alone  is  preserved.  The  same  rock  has 
weathered,  so  that  waving  ribs — the  edges  of  beds  of  crumpled 
slate — rise  an  inch  or  more  above  the  surface.  At  first  sight 
the  fresh  grooves  would  seem  to  be  the  work  of  a  small  modern 
glacier,  which  slid  down  a  north-eastern  hollow  from  low  hills 
in  Ceantire.  The  moraine  seems  just  below  the  village,  but 
the  shape  of  the  hills,  deep  glens,  and  the  direction  of  the 
grooves,  make  a  modern  land-glacier  impossible.  One  surface 
has  been  preserved  at  one  spot  by  clay,  and  lately  exposed,  so 
it  remains  entire  beside  a  bare  surface  spoiled  by  weather. 

The  highest  hill  on  the  road-side  is  opposite  to  Ardpatrick, 
and  is  400  feet  high.  The  surface  is  bare  rock,  ground  and 
weathered.  Deep  marks  here  point  E.N.E.  up-stream,  at  the 
mouth  of  a  pass  which  leads  over  Ceantire  to  Skipness,  and 
W.S.W.  past  Ardpatrick  at  the  southern  point  of  Islay.  A 
number  of  loose  stones  are  scattered  on  this  hill,  one  of  which 
is  a  large  block  of  white  quartz. 


76  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

At  the  end  of  West  Loch  Tarbert,  Ceantire  is  joined  to 
the  mainland  by  an  isthmus  about  half  a  mile  wide  and 
some  thirty  feet  high.  West  Loch  Tarbert  lies  in  a  deep 
hollow  about  ten  miles  long,  which  nearly  corresponds  to  the 
strike  of  rock-beds.  On  either  side  of  this  large  groove  are 
hills  from  1500  to  2000  feet  high.  Those  to  the  south-east 
make  the  north-eastern  end  of  Ceantire  ;  the  other  side  of  the 
groove  is  a  block  of  high  land  which  ends  in  another  large 
groove  at  the  Crinan  Canal,  and  the  highest  point  in  the  dis- 
trict is  Sliamh  Gaoil  (the  Hill  of  Love),  about  which  many 
songs  and  legends  are  repeated.  Above  the  town  of  Tarbert, 
in  the  middle  of  the  trench,  is  a  long  ridge  about  600  feet 
high.  On  the  top  of  this  ridge  are  perched  blocks,  and, 
though  much  weathered,  ice-marks  abound  on  the  hill.  At 
one  place  a  long  narrow  ridge  like  the  back  of  an  animal  ends 
abruptly  where  it  was  broken  off ;  at  another  a  patch  of  hard 
stone  ground  smooth  lias  resisted  the  weather,  and  marks  are 
plain.  The  ridge  itself  gives  the  direction.  A  stick  pointed 
at  Dunskeg  in  West  Loch  Tarbert,  points  down-stream  over  the 
island  of  Cara  at  Lough  Foyle  in  Ireland,  and  up-stream  N.E.  by 
E.,  over  Cowal,  past  the  northern  shoulder  of  high  hills  near 
Ardkinglas ;  and  every  rock-form  in  the  neighbourhood  points 
the  same  way.  With  the  sea  at  this  level  Ceantire  would  be 
three  islands,  with  sounds  near  Skipness  and  at  Campbelton. 
A  stream  flowing  as  the  ebb  does  in  Loch  Fyne,  would  split 
on  hills  east  of  Tarbert.  One  branch  would  join  a  stream 
coming  from  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  as  the  ebb  does  at  Skipness 
Point,  and  follow  the  direction  of  ice-grooves  on  the  Arran 
hills  ;  another  would  flow  past  Tarbert  through  two  narrow 
sounds,  and  join  the  other  streams  about  Clachan,  where  ice- 
grooves  point  at  the  hollow  which  crosses  Ceantire.  At 
higher  levels  similar  streams  woidd  still  follow  these  deep 


WESTPORT  CURVE — CEANTIRE.  77 

trenches,  and  flow  round  islands  which  are  hills  now.  In 
walking  north-westwards  from  Tarbert,  long  parallel  ridges 
and  deep  troughs  are  passed  as  the  hill  is  mounted.  From 
Tarbert  to  the  top  of  the  first  ridge  is  about  550  or  600  feet. 
Then  comes  a  steep  descent  of  about  500  feet  into  the  next 
groove.  Then  a  steep  hill  rises  to  650  feet,  and  a  point  is 
reached  which  opens  the  narrow  end  of  Loch  Fyne.  Ben 
Cruachan  is  seen  to  the  north,  the  Ardkinglas  hills  to  the 
south,  and  a  wide  hollow  with  hills  and  glens  between  these 
high  points.  Eidge  follows  ridge  up  to  the  top  of  Sliamh 
Gaoil,  and  the  whole  district  seems  ice-ground. 

All  the  low  hills  are  of  one  pattern.  At  700  feet  are 
perched  blocks,  and  more  can  be  seen  higher  up  ;  rolled  stones 
are  at  the  bottom  of  the  glen,  and  many  are  foreign  to  the 
rocks  on  which  they  rest.  Every  bare  rock  in  this  district, 
even  rocks  below  high-water  mark,  and  under  water,  are 
grooved  and  rounded  in  the  same  general  direction. 

So,  after  a  check  at  the  Mull  of  Ceautire,  the  spoor  which 
was  taken  up  at  Westport,  at  Clew  Bay,  in  Ireland,  is  fresh 
on  the  mainland  of  Scotland.  It  lies  in  a  wide  hollow  between 
the  Jura  and  Arran  hills  ;  between  Cruachan  and  Ben  Lo- 
mond further  inland ;  and  central  Scotland  is  right  ahead. 
The  track  will  be  taken  up  there  again. 

On  Mr.  Geikie's  map  arrows  point  from  N.E.  to  S.W.  over 
these  Argyllshire  hills,  and  the  marks  are  attributed  to  glaciers 
of  very  large  dimensions  sliding  off  Scotland.  According  to 
the  marks  now  described,  ice  moved  south-westwards  as  far 
as  Galway  and  Westport,  in  Ireland  ;  if  it  was  a  glacier,  it 
was  2000  feet  thick  at  Shan  Folagh ;  it  was  at  least  sixty  miles 
wide  on  this  part  of  the  Scotch  coast,  and  it  moved  over  the 
tops  of  hills,  between  1500  and  2000  feet  high,  in  Arran  and 
Ceantire. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

BALTIC   CURRENT   6 — GA.LWAY   AND   WESTPORT   CURVES — 
ARGYLL,   ETC. 

Galway  Curves. — THE  spoor  taken  up  at  Galway,  and  found  at 
Belfast  and  in  Arran,  is  fresh  in  Bute  ;  but  at  the  low  level 
of  Bute  the  lines,  according  to  Mr.  Geikie's  map,  follow  the 
run  of  the  ebb  tide,  and  curve  back  to  the  E.  of  S. 

At  Greenock  a  glaciated  rock  peers  out  from  under  a 
garden-wall  in  a  footpath  near  the  town. 

So  three  lines  taken  up  in  Ireland  are  landed  in  three 
grooves  which  cross  Scotland. 

The  Deny  Veagh  line  points  to  the  Caledonian  Canal ; 
the  Westport,  Deny,  and  Tarbert  line  to  Glenorchy  ;  the  Gal- 
way, Belfast,  and  Arran  line  to  the  Firth  of  Clyde  :  and  these 
must  be  followed. 

At  or  near  the  present  sea-level  it  is  easy  to  trace  the 
path  which  ice  followed  in  all  the  lochs  of  western  Argyll. 

In  crossing  from  Greenock  to  Inverary,  from  the  Galway 
to  the  Westport  curve,  a  series  of  hollows  are  traversed.  It 
is  plain  that  land-ice  or  sea-ice,  moving  at  low  levels,  could 
only  slide  down,  or  float  up  or  down,  these  deep  grooves. 

Loch  Long  (the  Ship  Loch)  runs  up  N.E.,  and  rocks  on  its 
shores  are  ground  from  the  N.E.  as  far  as  Tarlert,  where  Ben 
Lomond  stands  sentry.  A  low  neck  of  land  divides  Loch 
Long  from  Loch  Lomond.  At  the  level  of  sea-shells  found 
about  Paisley,  Greenock,  etc.,  the  sea  would  reach  Glenfallocli, 


ARGYLL,  ETC.  79 

and  surround  a  large  block  of  high  land  in  Dumbartonshire. 
At  Tarbert  the  ice-marks  do  not  point  at  Ben  Lomond,  but 
turn  round  and  point  at  the  shoulder,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
loch,  where  engineers  chose  Glenfalloch  as  the  lowest  pass  to 
reach  Loch  Tay.  Ben  Lomond  was  not  the  source  of  the  ice. 
A  great  stream  was  moved  down  from  Glenfalloch,  leaving 
great  stones,  to  which  legends  are  attached.  One  is  the  "Stone 
of  the  Bulls."  It  was  capsized  and  rolled  down  from  the  moun- 
tains during  a  mythical  fight  between  two  mythical  bulls,  and 
it  has  been  used  as  a  pulpit  in  later  days.  High  up  on  the 
sky-line,  on  the  shoulder  of  Ben  Lomond,  at  least  2000  feet 
up,  more  boulders  are  perched,  where  they  could  not  have 
rolled.  They  must  surely  have  floated.  If  these  be  marks  of 
ice-floats,  the  Glenfalloch  stream  split  at  Tarbert  ;  one  branch 
went  S.W.  down  Loch  Long,  the  other  round  by  Dumbarton 
to  Greenock.  The  proof  must  be  sought  at  the  head  of  Glen- 
falloch, at  the  watershed,  and  that  station  has  not  yet  been 
made  good. 

At  Rowardennan,  on  Loch  Lomond,  where  steamers  call,  a 
point  of  rock  at  the  water-level  has  deep  conspicuous  grooves 
which  clearly  indicate  very  heavy  ice  passing  towards  the 
Clyde,  and  grounding  or  sliding  here.  The  only  doubt  is 
whether  the  ice  was  aground  in  a  sea,  or  high  and  dry. 

Glencrodh. — The  Loch  Long  stream  was  joined  by  several 
others.  A  large  branch  can  be  traced  from  Ben  lonima  to 
the  col  at  '•  Eest-and-be-Thankful."  There  the  level  is  about 
800  feet,  and  the  question  is,  What  was  the  sea-level  when 
the  last  glacier  reached  it  ?  The  marks  can  be  followed  from 
the  col  two  ways  ;  down  Glencrodh  (the  Fold  Glen)  to  the 
sea  at  Loch  Long,  and  down  to  Ardkinglas.  The  question  to 
be  answered  is — 

Did  the  ice  slide  all  the  way,  or  did  it  slide  part  of  the 


80   BALTIC  CURRENT— GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 

way,  to  be  launched  at  2000,.  or  800,  or  any  sea-level  other 
than  the  present  ? 

Loch  Goil. — Loch  Goil  branches  off  from  Loch  Long  lower 
down,  and  heavy  ice  came  down  that  pass  from  the  north. 
The  rocks  are  all  ground,  and  the  weather-side  is  towards 
the  pass. 

At  the  mouth  of  Loch  Goil,  Clach-an-Turaman  (the  Stone 
of  Staggering)  is  perched  upon  the  sky-line  about  100  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  loch  is  about  250  feet  deep, 
and  the  shape  of  the  bottom  is  known  to  herring-fishers,  who 
say  that  "  it  is  all  in  pits  and  ridges."  It  is  therefore  like  the 
shore.  If  this  be  the  work  of  land-glaciers,  the  ice  was  at  least 
600  feet  thick. 

At  the  head  of  Loch  Goil  two  glens  branch — one  to  the 
"  Rest,"  800  ;  the  other  to  Glen  Ifrinn,  where  the  col  is  630. 
A  coach  and  a  character  convey  travellers  to  Loch  Fyne.  At 
200  feet,  and  on  the  top  of  this  pass,  are  piles  of  glacial 
drift,  and  at  the  sea-level  on  both  sides  are  conspicuous  ice- 
marks. 

But  the  difficulty  is  to  account  for  the  high  drift  at  V30 
feet.  No  land-glaciers  met  there,  for  there  are  no  glens  to 
hold  them. 

Loch  Eck. — Lower  down,  a  third  low  pass  joins  Loch  Fyne 
to  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  at  the  Holy  Loch  and  Dunoon. 

The  shores  of  Loch  Eck  are  strewed  with  large  boulders, 
and  grooved.  The  col  is  about  100  feet  high,  and  according 
to  Mr.  Geikie's  map,  the  ice  moved  towards  the  Clyde  from 
Loch  Fyne. 

The  question  to  be  solved  is  the  sea-level.  At  100  feet 
there  would  be  a  strait  at  the  Holy  Loch  ;  at  730,  a  second 
strait  at  Glen  Ifrinn  ;  at  800,  Loch  Fyne  would  join  Loch 
Long  in  a  rock-basin  called  Loch  Restal,  and  it  would  meet 


ARGYLL,  ETC.  81 

Loch  Lomond  at  the  head  of  Glen  Chonaglas,  and  at  the  head 
of  Glen  Fyiie.  If  the  sea  ever  was  at  that  level,  there  must 
be  evidence  of  the  fact  somewhere,  and  ice-grooves  on  water- 
sheds may  be  examined  as  silent  witnesses. 

Loch  Fyiie. — Loch  Fyne  runs  nearly  N.E.  towards  Loch 
Tay.  Strife  are  laid  down  on  Geikie's  map  ;  and  they  are 
very  conspicuous  at  low  levels.  Everywhere  along  the  shores 
from  end  to  end,  ice-marks  are  fresh  upon  rocks  near  the  sea 
and  awash.  The  direction  of  movement  was  along  the  run  of 
the  ebb,  S.W. 

The  woodcut  on  p.  92  is  copied  from  a  photograph  made 
by  an  able  artist.  It  is  a  good  example  of  the  form  of  such 
rocks. 

Tnverary. — North  of  Loch  Fyne,  two  glens — Glen  Aoradh 
and  Glen  Siorrath — run  northwards  and  eastwards  towards 
Loch  Awe.  In  these  are  piles  of  drift,  and  iii  branch  glens 
which  run  into  them  are  similar  collections  of  rubbish  at 
similar  elevations,  generally  from  600  to  800  feet. 

At  a  place  in  Glen  Aoradh,  called  Tidlich  (mounds),  are 
great  conical  heaps  of  scratched  stones,  and  other  glacial 
debris,  arranged  like  moraines  described  above  (chap,  xxviii.) 
On  one  of  these  mounds  courts  were  held  in  the  olden  time. 
The  drift  extends  to  the  top  of  the  col,  which  is  about  800 
feet  high,  level  with  "Best-and-be-Thankful."  There  is  nothing 
in  the  shape  of  the  country  to  suggest  a  glacier  ending  at  the 
head  of  Glen  Aoradh.  Ben  Cruachan  is  beyond  Loch  Awe, 
and  the  drift  did  not  come  from  that  direction.  But  if  the  sea 
were  1000  feet  higher,  Loch  Awe,  Loch  Fyne,  and  Loch  Lomond 
would  all  be  joined,  the  sea  would  reach  the  foot  of  the  hills 
of  central  Scotland,  and  all  these  passes  would  be  straits.* 

Lorn,  Cowal,  and  Ceantire  would  be  ten  islands  added  to 

*  For  the  shape  of  rubbish-heaps  dropped  from  melting  ice,  see  vol.  i.  p.  380. 
VOL.   II.  G 


82    BALTIC  CURRENT — GALWAY  AND  WESTFORT  CURVES. 

the  Hebrides,  and  the  mainland  of  Scotland  would  be  an 
archipelago  at  this  sea-level 

The  river  Aoradh  has  cut  sections  in  the  drift,  and  it 
seems  to  have  come  round  a  hill-shoulder  from  hills  and  glens 
about  the  upper  end  of  Loch  Awe.  Above  a  certain  level, 
about  900  or  1000  feet,  the  hill-tops  are  bare  rock,  and  striae 
on  them  point  in  that  direction. 

Loch  Awe. — Loch  Awe  runs  N.E.  and  S.W.,  like  the  prin- 
cipal glens  in  this  district.  It  points  up  to  Loch  Lyddich 
and  Loch  Ericht  in  central  Scotland  ;  and  rocks  along  the 
shores  of  Loch  Awe  are  ground  from  that  direction. 

The  general  features  of  the  country,  then,  suggest  the 
action  of  some  powerful  engine  which  has  ground  the  whole 
district,  so  as  to  furrow  it  from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  and  cross-cut  it 
from  N.W.  to  S.E.,  leaving  a  few  high  points  unground, 

A  ^  ^ 

Above  a  certain  level,  about  2000  feet,  the  tops  are  riven, 
weathered,  shattered,  bare  rocks,  as  Beinn  Copach  ("  the 
Jagged  Hill,"  which  Saxons  call  the  Cobbler,  and  Celts 
Arthur's  Seat) ;  the  Gray  Head,  and  others.  Lower  hills  are 
smooth  rounded  ridges,  with  the  worn  strata  peeping  through 
the  turf  to  show  that  the  glens  are  grooves  hollowed  out. 
They  are  tool-marks  of  some  graving  engine,  not  fractures 
in  the  earth's  crust. 

The  shattered  peaks  prove  that  the  glens  are  not  weather- 
marks.  River-beds  prove  that  the  glens  are  not  simply 
water-marks. 

Eight  down  these  smooth  hill-sides  small  streams  are  saw- 
ing rough  splintery  trenches.  They  are  cutting  across  the 
grain  into  the  rounded  sides  of  smooth  grooves  gouged  out 
with  some  other  tool. 

The  sea-coast  proves  that  the  glens  are  not  the  marks  of 


ARGYLL,  ETC.  83 

ocean-currents.  Sea-waves  chop  like  an  axe  at  the  root  of  a 
tree,  or  like  a  pickaxe  at  the  foundation  of  a  wall ;  and  the 
west  coast  is  a  wall  of  cliffs,  wherever  the  sea  has  its  full 
swing. 

These  west  country  glens  seem  to  be  large  ice-grooves  ; 
the  problem  is,  How  came  the  climate  to  change,  and  when 
did  the  change  take  place?  If  there  were  a  measure  for 
river-work,  the  Highland  burns  would  give  one  answer.  A 
stranger,  wandering  along  a  smooth  hill-side,  may  see  a  nar- 
row belt  of  brushwood  meandering  through  the  heather.  On 
coming  to  the  place,  he  will  find  an  impassable  gorge,  hidden 
amongst  the  trees.  Unless  he  knows  the  fords,  he  may  wan- 
der for  miles,  stopped  by  the  work  of  a  rivulet. 

Legends  tell  how  Bob  Eoy  took  up  his  abode  at  a  river- 
fork  of  this  kind,  and  called  the  place  his  castle.  The  house 
is  there  still ;  and,  without  the  modern  bridge,  a  stranger  could 
hardly  get  to  it,  though  the  fords  are  easy,  when  found. 

Further  back,  it  is  told  that  a  forfeited  earl  and  a  faithful 
guide  escaped  from  hostile  Athole  men,  "  who  had  made  a 
stable  for  horses  of  the  Castle  of  MacCailain."  The  foes  got 
near  enough  to  speak,  but  the  strangers  could  not  cross  a 
burn  whose  very  existence  a  stranger  would  hardly  suspect. 
I  The  river-bed  is  a  fact,  if  the  story  be  too  picturesque  for 

sober  history.  It  is  a  deep  gash,  with  vertical  sides,  cut  in 
the  smooth  rounded  hollow,  which  was  made  before  the  rivers 
began  to  saw  ;  and  the  rivers  are  sawing  through  ice-grooves, 
which  are  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  just  been  made  in  the  low 
grounds  of  Argyll 

Wcstport  Curve — high  marks, — In  order  to  find  out  the 
course  of  a  general  movement  in  ice  and  water,  sufficient  to 
account  for  denudation  on  this  scale,  it  is  necessary  to  get. out 
of  this  network  of  deep  narrow  glens.  The  top  of  the  steeple 


84    BALTIC  CURRENT — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 

is  tlie  place  for  the  weather-cock,  and  hill-tops  must  be  sought 
for  the  spoor  of  the  Baltic  Current. 

Dun  Chorre  Bhile. — On  the  north  side  of  Loch  Fyne,  near 
Inyerary,  is  a  lull  which  generally  goes  by  the  name  of  Dun 
Horrible  ;  but  the  name  means  the  hill  of  the  steep  brink.  It 
is  about  950  feet  high.  The  top  is  isolated,  and  at  the  end  of  a 
ridge  which  separates  Glen  Aoradh  from  Glen  Siorrath ; 
Ben  Cruachan  is  to  the  north,  and  the  cols  are  lower  than 
this  hill-top.  Loch  Fyne,  and  hills  and  glens  about  it ;  the 
Ceantire  hills,  and  many  other  distant  points,  are  seen  from 
this  spot.  With  the  sea  at  800  feet,  it  was  a  rock  far  from 
shore.  Near  the  top  are  loose  blocks  which  must  have  floated 
there,  unless  they  were  carried  by  glaciers  or  men.  The  hill  it- 
self, and  rock-surfaces  laid  bare,  have  the  usual  rounded  form. 

At  about  750  feet,  weathered  rock-tables  are  bare  in  the 
moor  below  the  top.  Any  marks  which  can  be  found  on  them 
seem  to  point  at  Glen  Siorrath  and  the  shoulder  of  Beinn 
Buidhe,  beyond  which  lies  Loch  Tay.  A  block  of  hard  stone, 
beautifully  smoothed  and  grooved  on  two  sides,  lies  here  ; 
and  fences  are  made  of  boulders  gathered  on  the  hill.  At  this 
level,  and  above  it,  rocks  to  the  north  are  ice-ground  all  the 
way  to  the  head  of  Glen  Aoradh,  and  marks  there  turn  round 
the  hill-shoulder  into  the  Loch  Awe  groove. 

These  marks  lead  to  central  Scotland.  But  there  are 
higher  marks. 

Beinn  Bhrcac. — The  highest  point  on  the  ridge  which 
divides  Loch  Awe  from  Loch  Fyne  is  Beinii  Bhreac  (the 
Speckled  Hill).  In  ascending  to  it  from  Inverary,  signs  of 
glacial  action  appear  everywhere.  Large  grooved  stones,  enor- 
mous wandering  blocks,  patches  of  drift,  contorted  beds  of 
sand,  and  other  marks,  appear  in  the  woods,  and  amongst  the 
heather.  At  1200  feet,  at  the  N.E.  end  of  one  of  the  mime- 


ARGYLL,  ETC. 


85 


rous  ridges  of  which  the  top  is  composed,  a  well-marked  deep 
groove  points  N.E.  by  E.,  into  a  hollow  to  the  north  of  Beinn 
Buidhe. 

Up  to  1350  feet,  the  whole  ridge  is  ice-ground,  and  every 
rock-form  points  at  a  sea  of  hills  in  central  Scotland.  A 
spirit-level  and  a  map  show  that  the  passes  in  the  distance  are 
lower  than  this  point. 


hAw.  ^ 


Fio.  75.   TORS  AND  PERCHED  BLOCKS  AT  1600  FECT.     Top  OF  BEINX  BHREAC.     1863. 

At  1550  feet,  at  the  end  of  the  next  ridge,  weathered 
grooves,  six  feet  long,  run  horizontally  along  the  sides  of  long 
weathered  tors,  which  rival  those  of  Connemara  ;  and  these 
marks  all  point  one  way  at  central  Scotland. 

From  this  point  to  the  top,  1650  feet,  according  to  a  dis- 
turbed barometer,  excellent  specimens  of  roches  moutonnees, 
with  perched  blocks,  abound  The  cut  was  sketched  on  the 
wood  :  it  is  reversed  ;  but  the  form  was  carefully  copied,  and 
it  is  characteristic  of  ice. 

If  the  sea  were  at  1650  feet,  there  would  be  a  clear  course 
over  Scotland  by  Strathspey  to  Scandinavia,  Dalwhinny,  at 
the  end  of  Loch  Ericht,  is  1169  ;  Loch  Garry,  1330  ;  and  the 
highest  point  on  the  Perth  and  Inverness  Railway  is  1480  feet. 


86        BALTIC  CURRENT— GAL  WAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 

And  it  is  to  these  places  that  horizontal  marks  on  Beinn 
Bhreac  point. 

Looking  S.  W.  along  the  supposed  line  of  movement,  there  is 
a  clear  horizon  between  Jura  and  Arran  along  the  north  shore 
of  Ceantire  ;  and  beyond  the  horizon  is  a  clear  way  to  Loch 
Foyle,  and  thence  to  Westport,  as  shown  above  (chap,  xxx.) 

Looking  N.E.  there  is  a  broken  horizon  between  the 
vertebree  of  Scotland  —  between  Ben  Lomond  and  Ben 
Craachan ;  but  the  way  is  clear  at  this  level,  all  the  way 
to  the  Bergen  glaciers  which  have  been  described  above 
(chaps,  xiv.  and  xv.) 

From  Beinn  Bhreac  a  magnificent  panorama  is  seen  :  a 
wide  stretch  of  moor  and  lake,  with  hills,  islands,  sounds,  and 
the  wide  ocean  ;  Arran  and  Ceantire  are  seen  ;  Tarbert  and 
Sliamh  Ghoil ;  the  distant  smoke  of  Greenock  beyond  Cowal 
and  Eoseneath,  all  the  Argyllshire  glens  and  cols  above  men- 
tioned ;  and  central  Scotland  right  ahead.  From  this  point 
the  evidence  seems  complete.  These  ice-marks  were  surely 
made  by  sea-ice,  of  the  dimensions  described  by  Lamont, 
Dufferin,  Scoresby,  and  others  ;  moving  at  this  level  as  sea- 
ice  moves  off  Labrador.* 

If  the  other  theory  be  taken  it  will  not  fit  the  facts.  To 
arrive  at  the  top  of  Beinn  Bhreac  from  central  Scotland, 
land-ice  would  have  to  climb  for  six  miles  along  the  back  of 
a  steep  ridge,  out  of  Glen  Aoradh  for  about  800  feet,  if  it 
stuck  to  the  col ;  for  1500  feet,  if  it  came  straight  from  Loch 
Awe  ;  and  there  is  no  hill  to  the  N.E.  high  enough  to  give  the 
necessary  pressure.  The  hill-top  is  higher  than  the  water- 
shed of  central  Scotland  in  passes  out  of  which  the  ice  must 

*  These  high  marks  were  first  noticed  by  the  present  Duke  of  Argyll,  who,  in 
1857,  wrote  a  paper  on  the  subject,  and  attributed  the  marks  to  sea-ice. — Edin. 
New  Phil.  Journal,  new  series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  153. 


ARGYLL,  ETC.  87 

have  come  according  to  the  marks  which  it  made.  Glaciers 
might  slide  down  to  the  sea  by  Loch  Awe  and  Loch  Fyne ; 
but  they  never  climb  if  they  can  slide  past  a  hill. 

Supposing  a  solid  mass  2000  feet  thick  to  travel  along 
parallel  glens  in  Scotland,  like  a  sledge  in  ruts.  Let  one 
runner  be  in  the  Caledonian  Canal,  another  in  Loch  Awe,  a 
third  in  Loch  Fyne,  and  a  fourth  in  the  Clyde.  Let  the  ice- 
tract  be  as  large  as  the  largest  known,  still  even  that  strong 
supposition  will  not  carry  the  ice  over  the  top  of  Shan  Folagh, 
2000  feet  up,  and  hundreds  of  miles  away.  Nor  is  there  any 
apparent  reason  why  such  ice  should  move  from  N.E.  to  S.W. 
or  thereby,  from  the  watershed  of  Scotland  to  the  west  coast 
of  Ireland. 

But  if  ice  floated  at  the  level  of  the  highest  marks,  ice  in 
Greenland  and  off  Newfoundland  explains  the  puzzle. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  a  prevailing  current  may 
have  left  marks,  as  a  prevailing  wind  bends  trees.  It  is  easy 
to  watch  clouds  floating  past  those  hill-tops  at  a  well-marked 
level,  and  turn  them  into  ice-floes  and  icebergs,  glaciers  and 
snow,  from  pictures  copied  by  memory  from  books  and 
nature. 

The  average  annual  rain-fall  in  this  district  is  about  six 
feet.  If  the  rain  were  snow,  as  "  it  is  whiles,"  and  the  climate 
a  trifle  colder,  forty  or  fifty  years  would  build  a  snow-heap 
more  than  2000  feet  deep,  and  glaciers  and  icebergs  might 
resume  their  unfinished  work  in  Argyll.  The  climate  has 
changed,  and  may  change  again ;  a  reason  for  the  change  is 
surely  worth  seeking.  One  has  been  sought  in  a  rise  of 
Lapland  and  a  Baltic  current,  and  so  far  the  British  spoor 
looks  well,  for  it  points  the  right  way. 

Tides. — If  high  ice-marks  are  attributed  to  ice-floats,  and 
low  marks  to  local  glaciers  and  fjord  ice,  part  of  the  ice- 


88   BALTIC  CURRENT— GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 

problem  is  solved.  The  powers  which  move  these  floats  on 
the  opposite  coast  of  Labrador  are  ocean-currents  and  local 
tides,  and  their  movements  regulate  the  movements  of  the 
ice,  as  a  stream  determines  the  path  of  froth.  Ever  since 
there  was  fluid  to  be  moved  on  the  earth's  surface,  there 
must  have  been  tides,  if  the  laws  of  nature  are  permanent 
laws  ;  so  existing  tides  on  the  Scotch  coast  throw  light  upon 
marks  made  by  old  Scotch  ice. 

In  the  tidal  chart  of  the  British  Isles,  given  in  Keith 
Johnston's  Physical  Atlas,  plate  15,  the  local  wave  of  flood 
is  shown  travelling  north-eastwards  across  the  Atlantic  from 
America  towards  the  Baltic,  when  it  runs  foul  of  Ireland. 
There  the  wave  is  stopped  and  divided.  It  is  high  water  on 
the  south-western  coast  of  Ireland,  and  the  ebb  begins  to  flow 
back.  But  the  wave  of  flood  sweeps  on,  and  curls  round  till 
flood  meets  flood  behind  Ireland  in  the  lee,  near  the  Isle  of 
Man.  It  is  high-water  in  that  channel,  and  the  ebb  begins 
there,  but  the  wave  of  flood  sweeps  on  past  Cape  Wrath  and 
the  Land's  End,  and  the  waves  meet  a  second  time  in  the  lee, 
as  waves  do  behind  a  stone  in  a  pond.  It  is  high-water  on 
the  eastern  coast,  and  a  third  ebb  begins  behind  Great  Britain. 
Finally,  big  waves  which  travel  westwards  in  pursuit  of  the 
sun  and  moon,  and  which  are  reflected  from  the  shores  of 
America  back  to  Europe,  pass  eastwards  to  Christiania, 
Tronclhjem,  and  Gotheborg,  where  the  Baltic  Current  flowing 
out  meets  the  wave  of  flood  and  stops  it  in  the  narrow  sound. 

The  general  principle  of  this  tidal  movement  is  simple 
and  easily  understood,  but  the  details  are  very  intricate. 

On  the  western  Scotch  coast  it  takes  a  lifetime  to  learn 
the  tides  in  a  small  district.  At  one  point  it  is  said  by  the 
fishermen  that  seven  tides  meet.  At  another,  a  current  swift 
as  a  mill-race  pours  through  a  small  sound  in  one  direction 


ARGYLL,  ETC.  89 

for  about  eleven  hours,  and  after  a  pause,  runs  back-  for  one 
hour.  At  another  place  Corrie  Bhreacan  whirls  round,  and 
can  only  be  approached  at  slack  water.  The  famous  gulf  is 
but  a  whirlpool  like  those  which  whirl  behind  stones  and 
posts,  and  the  piers  of  bridges.  It  is  the  offspring  of  a  strong 
tide  whirling  about  steep  islands,  and  there  are  scores  of  small 
whirlpools  in  every  Scotch  and  Scandinavian  strait. 

It  is  difficult  to  unravel  the  maze  of  the  tides  at  the  sea- 
level  where  sea  and  land  are  clearly  defined,  but  it  is  im- 
possible to  map  out  all  the  movements  of  water  beneath  the 
surface.  It  is  hopeless  to  attempt  to  follow  extinct  tides 
which  flowed  through  passes  amongst  archipelagoes  of  hills, 
and  at  various  levels  from  3000  feet  downwards. 

Still,  general  movements  of  fossil  tides  may  be  inferred, 
and  some  high  ice-marks  may  be  referred  to  them. 

At  the  level  of  2000  feet,  which  would  be  shown  by 
contour  lines  on  a  Scotch  map,  if  one  existed,  the  flood-tide 
which  comes  in  from  the  S.W.  would  pass  over  low  lands  in 
Ireland,  and  through  straits  at  Loch  Laggan,  Loch  Ericht,  Loch 
Garry,  Loch  Tay,  etc.,  in  central  Scotland,  and  so  on  over 
Sweden,  into  the  Baltic  ;  and  the  ebb  would  return  by  the 
same  direct  route. 

At  the  level  of  1000  feet,  Loch  Garry  and  Loch  Ericht 
would  be  closed,  but  Loch  Laggan  and  Loch  Tay  would  be 
open,  and  the  tide  might  still  pass  that  way. 

At  the  level  of  500  feet,  the  Caledonian  Canal  and  the 
Forth  and  Clyde  Canal,  and  Scottish  Central  Railway  line, 
would  still  be  straits,  though  central  Scotland  had  become  a 
single  island. 

So  long  as  there  was  a  direct  passage  the  waves  of  flood 
would  sweep  through  it  as  they  now  sweep  through  the 
Pent-land  Firth  and  the  Straits  of  Dover. 


90        BALTIC  CURRENT — GALWAY  AND   WESTPORT  CURVES. 

So  long  as  there  was  an  ice-float  to  be  moved  by  tides,  the 
flood-tide  would  move  it  towards  Scandinavia,  and  the  ebb 
would  drive  it  back  towards  America,  as  tides  are  supposed 
to  move  ice  in  sounds  which  cross  Greenland  (vol.  i.  p.  395.) 

If,  when  the  sea-level  was  at  3000,  2000,  1000,  or  500 
feet,  there  was  an  arctic  current  moving  south-westward  out  of 
the  Baltic,  it  would  help  the  ebb  to  drive  the  floats  and  breed 
glaciers  on  any  Scotch  or  Irish  hills  that  remained  above  water. 
Now  that  Lapland  is  1400  feet  above  the  sea,  there  is  no 
such  Baltic  current  and  no  British  ice. 

Inverary  nearly  corresponds  in  latitude  to  Nukasusutok 
in  Labrador. 

Great  floes,  big  icebergs,  and  fields  fifty  miles  wide,  are 
moving  along  the  Labrador  coast  south-eastwards,  driven  by 
the  reflected  current  which  cannot  escape  south-westwards 
from  the  arctic  basin,  because  the  north-west  passage  is  too 
narrow.  The  Labrador  ice  is  moved  by  tides  and  rocked  by 
Atlantic  rollers  ;  it  whirls  round  islands  and  points  and 
rocks,  but  there  is  a  general  direction  of  movement,  and  there 
must  be  a  general  direction  of  ice-marks  on  rocks  under  water. 

So  old  Scotch  floats  may  have  recorded  a  general  move- 
ment from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  though  every  group  of  islands  and 
every  change  in  the  level  of  sea  and  land  would  alter  the 
run  of  local  tides,  change  the  drift  of  ice,  and  so  vary  the 
direction  of  low  marks. 

The  highest  marks  are,  therefore,  best  for  getting  at  general 
movements.  The  Scilly  Bishops  off  Scilly,  the  Dubh  lartach 
off  Mull,  the  Mealsack  off  Beykjanses  in  Iceland,  and  similar 
rocks  in  the  ocean,  are  washed  by  tides,  but  they  do  not 
change  the  course  of  a  tidal  wave  as  Ireland  does. 

On  Shan  Folagh  in  Connemara,  at  2000  feet ;  on  Beinn 
Bhreac  in  Argyllshire,  at  1600  feet ;  and  on  other  isolated 


ARGYLL,  ETC.  91 

tops  which  were  solitary  rocks  if  the  sea-level  ever  was  so 
high,  ice-marks  do  agree  with  the  assumed  direction  of  tides 
and  currents.  The  actual  path  of  Labrador  ice  coincides  when 
copied  and  transferred  to  Britain  in  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  232). 

At  lower  levels  in  glens  and  amongst  mountains,  in  places 
where  hills  made  an  archipelago,  and  the  glens  a  network 
of  sounds  and  firths,  the  marks  become  an  intricate  problem, 
which  would  cost  an  army  of  observers  years  to  solve.  To 
these  low-level  marks  the  attention  of  Scotch  observers  seems 
to  have  been  chiefly  directed  hitherto  ;  if  they  will  leave  the 
beaten  path  and  try  the  hill,  they  may  work  out  the  whole 
problem  in  time. 

This  at  least  is  plain  :  If  land  rose  or  sea  fell  from  2000 
feet  or  any  high  level  so  far  as  to  dry  glens  in  central  Scotland, 
and  Beinn  Bhreac  in  Argyll,  even  then  glaciers  might  flow 
down  straths  into  sea-lochs  in  Glenfalloch,  Glencroe,  and  Loch 
Long  ;  in  Glen  Fyne,  Glen  Siorrath,  Glen  Chonaglas,  and  Glen 
Aoradh ;  in  Glen  Orchay  and  Loch  Awe  ;  in  Loch  Etive  and 
Glencoe ;  in  Loch  Nevish,  and  in  similar  grooves ;  while  tides 
and  currents  still  flowed  directly  past  Edinburgh  and  Inver- 
ness, over  low  lands  in  the  British  Isles. 

If  there  were  glaciers  on  the  Argyll  Bowling-Green  when 
a  cold  stream  was  in  the  Clyde  valley,  that  branch  of  the 
stream  might  carry  ice  grown  in  Lanarkshire,  Dum- 
barton, and  Argyll,  to  Connemara  ;  while  the  Lochy  branch 
carried  an  ice-fleet  built  about  Ben  Nevis  to  be  wrecked  on 
Donegal. 

If  this  really  happened,  there  should  be  ice-marks  to 
correspond  about  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,  about  Inverary 
and  Dalwhinny,  about  Fort-William  and  Fort- Augustus,  and 
on  hills  and  watersheds  in  central  Scotland  ;  and  of  these 
six  points  one  is  made  good  by  Beinn  Bhreac  at  Inverary. 


92 


I5ALTIC  CURRENT — GALWAY  AND  WESTPORT  CURVES. 


At  "  Rest-and-be-Thankful,"  a  weary  pilgrim  once  sat  him 
down  and  sang 

"  0  king  !  0  Peter  and  Paul  ! 
There's  many  a  stride  from  Rome  to  Lochawe. " 

Above  this  wild  spot,  from  which  a  distant  lowland  horizon 
can  be  seen  through  a  gap  in  the  hills,  a  tall  mountain  rises  ; 
and  on  its  steep  ice-ground  sides,  fresh  moraines  hang  where 
ice  left  them  1000  feet  and  more  above  the  present  sea. 
Where  the  old  pilgrim  sat,  tides  surely  met  since  the  hills 
took  their  present  shape  ;  and  if  they  did,  their  way  was  clear 
along  this  route  from  Galway  to  Aberdeen,  and  to  places 
further  from  Lochawe  than  Rome. 

So  now  to  the  spoor  once  more  with  a  cast  southwards. 


N.E. 

Gleiifyne  and 

Cetitrai 

Scotland. 


Fio.  76.    Westport  Ci(i~ve. — AN  ICE-MARK  IN  SCOTLAND. 

Striae  upon  a  rock  in  Loch  Fyne,  about  three  miles  south-west  of  Inverary. 
From  a  photograph.    1863. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  7 — BRITISH  ISLES  6 — SCOTLAND  3 — GALWAY 
CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,  EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC. 

THE  last  cast  was  uorthwards,  the  next  is  southwards  into 
the  low  lands  which  were  seen  from  "  Rest-and-be-Thaukful ;" 
and  the  next  point  high  on  the  Galway  curve  is  near  Glasgow. 

Dechmont. — About  eight  miles  from  the  town,  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Clyde,  is  an  isolated  hill  of  blue  whinstone,  called 
Dechmont.  It  is  an  igneous  island  in  a  sandstone  sea — an 
upthrow  in  the  coal  formation.  Looking  at  this  hill  from  the 
N.E.,  near  a  bridge  over  the  Clyde,  it  seems  to  have  been 
worn  down  from  the  eastward,  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of 
sight.  It  is  broken  down  to  the  westward.  It  has  a  rounded 
top  ;  and  cliffs  on  the  west  and  north.  In  shape  it  resembles 
other  hills  of  the  same  kind  ;  for  example,  Stirling  and  Salis- 
bury Crags  in  the  same  glen,  and  Bren  Tor  and  other  tors  in 
Devonshire. 

At  the  Clyde  level,  rocks  are  sandstones  covered  with 
beds  of  sand,  clay,  and  glacial  drift.  Amongst  stones  taken 
from  the  fields  are  boulders  of  hard  rock,  foreign  to  the  dis- 
trict, polished  and  grooved.  Many  of  these  are  set  up  along 
the  road-side,  and  marks  are  so  clear  on  them  that  they  can 
be  seen  from  a  passing  carriage. 

Mud  in  the  Clyde,  which  is  washed  from  this  district,  is 
of  the  same  colour  as  the  drift-clay  to  the  south-west,  along 


94  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

the  Galway  curve  ;  and  Lanarkshire  boulders  are  like  Irish 
boulders. 

On  the  eastern  shoulder  of  Dechmont,  a  large  pile  of 
stones  had  been  newly  dragged  from  a  field  by  an  improving 
farmer,  in  September  1863,  and  amongst  them  were  large 
blocks  of  crumpled  mica-slate,  quartz  rock,  sandstone,  and 
various  kinds  of  whinstone.  Thus  glacial  drift  extends  far 
up  the  side  of  this  valley.  On  the  hill-top,  at  550  feet,  the 
blue  whinstone  is  barely  covered  with  soil  and  turf.  There  is 
no  drift,  so  this  hill-top  has  been  swept  bare.  Close  to  the 
keeper's  house,  the  turf  was  moved  in  1862,  to  make  room 
for  a  garden,  and  in  1863  the  rock  was  still  exposed.  Ice- 
marks  on  it  are  perfect ;  so  Dechmont  was  ice-ground,  and 
has  not  lost  an  eighth  of  an  inch  by  weathering. 

There  are  deep  scores  with  finer  sand-marks  in  them,  and  all 
these  point  S.E.  and  E.S.E.,  at  hills  on  the  line  of  the  Caledo- 
nian Eailway  near  Lanark.  North-westward,  the  grooves 
aim  over  Glasgow,  down  the  Clyde.  Wherever  the  turf  has 
been  moved  on  this  hill,  marks  are  fresh,  and  point  in  the 
same  direction.  The  hill  was  ground  by  ice  moving  over  it 
from  the  S.E. 

Bent  trees  on  Dechmont  point  the  old  way,  N.E.,  at 
right  angles  to  these  grooves.  Water,  according  to  theoiy, 
ought  to  have  followed  the  track  of  air.  But  here,  when  the 
shape  of  the  land  is  studied,  when  the  mist  of  the  coal-fields 
of  Lanarkshire  opens  for  a  moment  to  show  distant  hills,  a 
reason  appears  for  a  change  in  direction  at  this  level. 

If  Dechmont  were  awash  in  a  current  flowing  at  the  550 
feet  level,  it  would  be  a  hard  rock  off  hard  hilly  islands, 
amongst  which  the  Clyde  now  rises,  and  off  a  round-backed 
island  on  which  the  Kirk  of  Shotts  now  stands.  If  the  stream 
came  by  the  Firth  of  Tay  and  the  Firth  of  Forth,  over  Dun- 


OALWAY  CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,   EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.       95 

dee,  Perth,  aiid  Stirling  ;  North  Berwick,  Edinburgh,  Carstairs, 
Lanark,  etc.  ;  the  block  of  hard  high  land  about  Tinto  would 
turn  the  stream  northwards  along  the  valley  of  the  Clyde,  as 
far  as  the  next  bank,  where  Cowal  now  bends  the  Clyde  at 
Dunoon.  Cowal  sends  Clydesdale  water  S.W.,  to  follow  the 
ebb  N.W.  round  the  Mull  of  Ceantire.  On  the  large  scale,  it 
was  the  case  shown  at  vol.  i.  pp.  127,  130,  and  illustrated  by 
every  stream  of  moving  water  and  ice.. 

If  the  Dechmont  marks  were  made  by  laud-ice,  the  glacier 
was  more  than  600  feet  thick ;  a  branch  slid  down  Clydes- 
dale, and  one  side  of  the  glacier  was  beyond  the  Edinburgh 
and  Glasgow  Railway. 

The  low  lands  of  Lanarkshire  now  drive  a  busy  iron  trade. 
Coals  and  iron  are  dug  from  below  ;  furnaces,  coke-heaps, 
and  engine-fires  darken  the  air  with  smoke.  Night  and  day 
ringing  hammers,  machines,  and  roaring  blasts  make  a  cease- 
less din  ;  and  at  night  the  very  clouds  glow  in  the  light  of 
panting  fires,  which  flare  and  fade  like  groups  of  small  vol- 
canoes in  full  work. 

Close  to  the  most  active  centre  of  artificial  igneous  action, 
at  Airdrie,  arctic  sea-shells  have  been  found  in  drift  at  a  higher 
level  than  the  top  of  Dechmont.  But  when  the  sea-shells  lived 
at  Airdrie,  Lanarkshire,  with  all  its  hidden  treasures,  was 
under  water  in  a  wide  sea-strait,  which  crossed  Scotland 
where  the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  and  Caledonian  Railways 
now  cross,  and  ocean-currents  swung  from  hill-side  to  hill- 
side, as  the  Thames,  Clyde,  and  Forth  do  from  their  banks. 

The  Airdrie  bed  of  arctic  shells  makes  one  more  link  in  a 
chain  of  evidence.  The  marks  on  Dechmont  were  made  by 
floating  sea-ice,  which  was  moving  in  a  fjord  ;  or  towards 
Galway  in  Ireland,  in  a  stream  which  curled  round  islands, 
of  which  the  high  land  about  the  Kirk  of  Shotts  was  one. 


96  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

In  mining  for  coal  and  iron  the  internal  structure  of  this 
country  is  learned,  and  from  that  internal  structure  one 
original  surface-form  may  be  guessed. 

It  is  common  to  find  that  a  rounded  hill  consists  of  a  pile 
of  flat  beds  of  rock,  laid  one  upon  the  other  like  a  heap  of 
roofing  slates.  But  the  shape  of  the  surface  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  structure  of  the  rock.  If,  in  mining,  any  one  of 
these  beds  is  followed  far  enough,  a  fault  or  dyke  is  reached 
where  a  whole  series  of  flat  beds  has  been  broken,  and  the 
bits  displaced.  One  side  of  the  fracture  or  the  other  is  gene- 
rally lifted  or  dropped  many  feet.  In  a  series  of  10  beds  No. 
1  may  be  opposite  to  No  10  ;  but  if  No.  10  has  been  lifted  a 
hundred  feet  up  to  the  place  of  No.  1,  then  the  side  of  the 
broken  dislocated  fragment  ought  to  be  a  cliff  a  hundred  feet 
high,  with  nine  beds  shown  in  section.  If  the  broken  surface 
of  Lanarkshire  were  preserved  entire,  it  would  be  a  land  of 
flat  slopes  and  sandstone  cliffs,  like  an  ill-laid  pavement,  for 
the  whole  of  this  coal-basin  is  shattered  by  faults.  The  beds 
dip  all  manner  of  ways.  But  this  broken  surface  has  not  been 
preserved. 

Lanarkshire  is  a  land  of  swelling  hills  and  ridges.  The 
only  cliffs  in  the  county  are  hard  trap-cliffs  like  Dechmont, 
and  river-banks  where  running  water  has  done  the  usual  work 
of  sawing  and  undermining.  The  surface  has  been  worn 
smooth,  and  the  cliffs  ground  off.  The  edges  of  nine  beds,  to 
correspond  to  the  nine  which  are  found  on  one  side  of  a  vertical 
fault,  are  found  by  searching  along  the  hill-top  where  the  beds 
crop  out.  Cliffs  have  been  denuded. 

Here  is  another  link  in  the  chain.  The  whole  of  Lanark- 
shire has  been  ground  down.  The  sea  was  up  to  the  level  of 
the  Airdrie  shells  ;  ice  moved  over  the  top  of  Dechmont,  and 
ground  the  trap  ;  so  the  great  valley  was  finished  by  sea-ice, 


GALWAY  CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,  EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.       97 

though  subterranean  fire  blocked  it  out,  and  so  prepared  a 
groove  for  ice  and  water  to  move  in. 

That  seems  to  be  the  rough  translation  of  part  of  the  out- 
line of  the  story  ;  the  details  have  filled  many  volumes,  and 
will  probably  fill  many  more. 

Following  the  direction  of  the  marks  on  Dechmont,  the 
550  feet  level  leads  to  the  highest  hills  in  the  country,  which 
are  nearly  2000  feet  above  the  sea-level  about  the  head  of 
Clydesdale. 

Seven  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  Dechmont,  at  Dalzell 
on  the  Clyde,  a  sandstone  rock  close  to  the  river,  80  feet  above 
the  sea  by  the  Ordnance  Survey,  is  polished  and  striated. 
The  direction  is  S.  55°  E. 

The  Clyde  here  winds  about  in  level  haughs,  in  plains  of 
clay,  earth,  and  gravel ;  but  where  this  alluvial  deposit  was 
moved  to  make  a  walk  in  1863,  the  old  ice-surface  was  found 
perfectly  fresh  upon  the  hard  sandstone  within  three  feet  of 
the  surface.  A  line  ruled  on  the  Ordnance  map  points  up  a 
deep  wide  rock-groove  which  the  Clyde  did  not  make,  because 
the  marks  of  ice  are  there  ;  preserved  from  the  water  by  the 
alluvial  beds. 

Leaving  the  Clyde  groove  at  Dalzell,  the  country  to  the 
north  and  east  rises  with  a  gentle  swell.  At  Wishaw  the  rise 
is  about  350  feet,  and  a  river  has  dug  a  V  90  feet  deep. 
The  sandstone  cliffs  are  fractured,  and  the  river-bottom  is  an 
unbroken  ripple-marked  bed  of  sandstone.  In  fields  near 
Coltness  are  scratched  boulders  of  quartz,  porphyry,  limestone, 
and  other  hard  rocks.  At  the  road-side  are  large  blocks  of 
hard  igneous  rock  taken  from  the  drift,  some  with  grooves 
more  than  half  an  inch  deep. 

At  Camnethan  the  rise  is  480  feet ;  so  the  level  of  Dech- 
mont is  passed  at  a  distance  of  about  10  miles. 

VOL.  II.  H 


98  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

Further  east,  at  Carstairs  and  Clegliorn,  the  height  is  752 
by  the  survey,  765  by  barometer.  Here  the  drift  is  disposed 
in  conical  and  rounded  mounds,  like  those  which  result  from 
the  melting  of  frozen  sand  and  gravel  in  water  (see  vol.  i. 
p.  380.)  The  highest  point  is  918  feet  by  barometer,  and  the 
form  of  the  surface  on  this  high  level  is  much  the  same.  If 
this  were  first  a  shoal,  then  an  isthmus,  drifting  ice  would  be 
apt  to  ground  on  it,  and  this  is  the  place  at  which  the  Dech- 
mont  grooves  point. 

The  Pentlands  are  about  1600  feet  high.  The  rock  is 
much  weathered,  and  ice-marks  are  obliterated.  A  rolled 
quartz  pebble  was  picked  up  on  the  highest  hill  in  the  range, 
and  a  scratched  boulder  was  found  in  a  wall  at  1200  feet. 

The  range  is  chiefly  composed  of  volcanic  rocks,  and  the 
hill-tops  are  strangely  like  volcanic  shapes  in  Iceland.  Part 
of  the  Pentland  range  may,  perhaps,  be  of  later  date  than  the 
Scotch  glacial  period  ;  but  on  many  of  these  hills  ice-marks 
are  abundant. 

Maclaren  mentions  other  signs  of  glacial  action  on  this 
range  : — A  block  of  mica-schist,  weighing  eight  or  ten  tons, 
is  at  the  east  end  of  Hune  Hill,  the  nearest  rocks  of  the  kind 
being  fifty  miles  off,  about  Loch  Vennachar  or  Loch  Earn  ; 
Ceantire,  eighty  miles  westward ;  or  Forfarshire,  seventy  miles 
northward.  But  as  all  the  ice-grooves  point  eastward,  the 
block  probably  sailed  from  some  land  beyond  the  seas,  together 
with  the  hills  of  drift  which  are  piled  up  near  this  track. 

At  800  or  900  feet,  at  a  place  called  Westivater  of  Dun- 
syne,  "  dressings"  were  found  by  Maclaren.* 

The  direction  was  E.  and  W. 

So  at  1000  feet  (the  level  of  marks  on  the  Arran  hills) 
the  Gahvay  curve  is  carried  over  Scotland  by  the  Caledonian 

*  Maclaren's  Gcnfnyy,  p.  215. 


GALWAY  CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,  EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.        99 

Railway ;  the  hills  of  Connemara  and  the  Pentlands  are  joined 
by  a  curve  on  the  map  (voL  i.  p.  232),  and  high  ice-grooves 
correspond  tolerably  well  all  the  way. 

At  lower  levels  this  gap  in  Scotland  was  blocked  by  the  high 
land  about  the  Kirk  of  Shotts.  But  the  way  was  open  along 
the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  line,  and  ice  followed  that  curve. 

Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  line. — Two  rivers,  a  canal,  many 
roads  and  railways,  all  follow  the  path  which  an  ocean-current 
may  have  followed  from  sea  to  sea  at  and  above  the  level  of 
1000  feet, 

To  the  north  of  the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  line,  as  far  as 
Castlecary,  the  north  bank  of  this  large  groove  is  a  range  of 
hard  hills.  These  have  smooth  tops  and  sides,  and  they  are 
scarcely  varied  by  glen  or  watercourse.  The  low  grounds 
belong  to  the  coal  formation  ;  and  the  surface  of  the  low 
country,  which  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea-strait,  is  fur- 
rowed by  ridges  and  hollows  parallel  to  the  roads,  canals, 
and  railways,  and  to  the  range  of  hills. 

Ice  did  not  slide  from  the  hills  into  the  plain.  If  it  had, 
furrows  would  point  at  the  hills  ;  but  ice  made  the  grooves 
in  passing  along  the  base  of  the  hills,  and  it  seems  as  if  some 
grinding  machine  had  passed  over  the  hill-tops  also,  for  the 
range  is  but  a  large  copy  of  smaller  ridges  in  the  plain  below 
it.  All  the  outlines  are  curves  ^-^.  All  the  grooves  point 
I  from  sea  to  sea. 

All  the  hill-tops  in  this  valley  are  ice-ground,  according 
to  the  observations  of  Maclaren,  his  predecessors  and  suc- 
cessors. At  Binny  Craig,  near  Liiilithgow,  grooves  and 
ridges  point  E.  and  W.  CraiglocJchart  Hill,  three  miles  S.W. 
from  Edinburgh,  is  a  tor  pointing  E.  and  \V.  It  is  quoted 
as  a  specimen  of  crag-and-tail,  but  the  tail  points  E.,  as  the 
tails  of  ice-tors  do  when  ice  comes  from  the  E. 


100  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

When  a  street  in  a  populous  town  is  paved  with  flags 
which  contain  hard  nodules,  passing  feet  wear  the  surface  un- 
equally. Bipple-marks  go  first,  and  at  last  an  old  paving 
stone  is  hollowed  out  and  worn  down,  till  knots  of  harder 
stuff  rise  like  miniature  hills  in  a  rolling  plain,  on  which 
puddles  gather  when  it  rains.  The  knots  are  worn  and 
scratched  by  sand  and  hobnails,  and  they  retain  marks  best, 
because  they  are  hardest.  The  softest  bits  are  "rock-basins." 

Eenfrew,  Lanark,  Ayr,  Linlithgow,  Edinburgh,  and  Had- 
dington,  are  like  the  flagstones.  They  are  worn,  though  not 
by  the  feet  of  men,  and  the  hard  knots  are  hills  of  igneous  rock 
in  softer  strata,  which  have  been  ground  by  ice. 

The  low  country  is  strewed  with  glacial  debris  every- 
where, and  lakes  and  rivers  are  like  puddles  of  rain-water 
resting  in  hollows  in  streets.  Dechmont  is  like  a  knot  in  the 
stone.  At  Edinburgh,  Corstorphine  Hill  and  Arthur's  Seat 
are  hard  ice-ground  knobs  which  also  retain  marks. 

On  Cwstorphinc  Hill  conspicuous  marks  are  to  be  seen 
over  a  space  of  more  than  a  square  mile.  Some  grooves  are 
fifteen  yards  long  and  a  foot  deep.  Where  the  rock  has  been 
newly  laid  bare  in  fields,  small  grooves  may  still  be  copied 
by  rubbing.  The  direction  is  E.  by  K,  at  a  height  of  about 
400  feet.  Great  weathered  rock-tables  are  to  be  seen  on  all 
parts  of  this  hill-top.  They  were  noticed  by  Sir  James  Hall 
many  years  ago,  as  mentioned  p.  214  of  Maclaren's  Geology, 
1839.  The  direction  of  these  grooves  is  confirmed  by  obser- 
vation ;  but  the  cause  formerly  assigned — a  deluge  of  water 
driving  stones  towards  the  east — must  be  abandoned.  No 
stream  of  water  now  makes  similar  marks  without  the  aid 
of  ice.  There  is  no  sea-beach  in  the  Western  Isles,  where 
Atlantic  waves  and  currents  have  made  marks  which  could 
be  taken  for  ice-marks. 


GALWAY  CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,   EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.        101 

Oil  the  Calton  Hill  are  grooves  almost  obliterated  by  human 
feet.  The  direction  is  E.  and  W.  at  about  300  feet. 

On  Arthur's  Seat  are  three  sets  of  marks  at  least. 

One  is  about  400  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  side  of  a  steep 
path  which  leads  to  the  hill-top  from  the  Queen's  Drive. 

Here  grooves  dive  north-eastward  into  the  hill,  at  an  angle 
of  22°.  If  this  be  an  old  weathered  ice-surface,  it  has  been 
covered  by  the  newer  igneous  rock  which  makes  the  top  of 
the  hill.  It  may  be  a  weathered  slickenside. 

A  second  series  is  lower  down  on  a  rock  which  was  laid 
bare  in  making  the  Queen's  Drive.  At  this  spot  the  fine 
surface  is  almost  perfect,  and  the  grooves  are  very  plain.  The 
movement  was  from  E.  by  S.,  S.  78°  E.,  past  the  hill-side 
towards  the  castle-rock  through  a  gap  at  the  back  of  "  Samson's 
Eibs." 

Close  to  these  ice-marks,  a  slickenside  has  been  pre- 
served. These  grooves  dive  into  the  hill,  and  bits  of  crystal 
deposited  on  them  still  adhere  to  the  worn  surface. 

A  third  set  is  at  the  edge  of  the  western  cliff  of  Salisbury 
Crags,  at  a  level  which  would  join  the  two  seas  by  the  Edin- 
burgh and  Glasgow  line.  Here  two  sets  of  cross  marks  are 
well  preserved  ;  but  the  surface  is  beginning  to  split  off  and 
weather.  The  chief  direction  was  from  N.  65°  E.,  or  roughly 
N.E.  by  E.  These  grooves  run  to  the  broken  edge  of  the  cliff, 
where  a  good  push  would  break  off  more  of  the  columnar 
greenstone.  They  point  over  Edinburgh,  along  the  line  of  the 
Caledonian  Eailway  and  the  base  of  the  Pentland  Hills,  at  a 
low  conical  mound  in  the  glen  S.W.  by  S.  The  shape  of 
the  Crags  alone  would  suggest  movement  in  this  direction  ; 
but  the  marks  are  sure  guides. 

The  greenstone,  together  with  beds  of  sandstone  which 
rest  upon  it,  was  at  some  time  lifted  up  like  the  lid  of  a  box, 


102  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

but  since  then  nearly  the  whole  of  the  upper  sandstone  layers 
have  been  rubbed  off.  At  this  spot  the  hard  greenstone  has 
been  reached,  and  marked  by  ice  passing  westwards.  The 
cross  markings  point  from  W.X.W.  to  E.S.E.,  from  the  low 
lands  of  Fife  to  the  Pentlands.  If  this  hill  rose  up  in  a 
current  flowing  from  the  eastward,  these  and  the  grooves  in 
the  Queen's  Drive  point  out  the  junction  of  streams  which 
split  upon  Arthur's  Seat,  and  joined  in  the  lee,  or  these  are 
marks  of  heavy  ice  drifting  backwards  and  forwards  in  the 
local  tides. 

In  any  case,  they  cannot  be  marks  of  land-ice.,  for  they 
avoid  high  ranges,  and  aim  over  low  grounds. 

Here  seems  a  fit  place  to  quote  authority  in  support  of 
theory,  and  the  authority  in  this  case  carries  weight. 

In  his  later  years,  Hugh  Miller,  that  type  of  a  Scotch 
peasant — the  man  of  vigorous  intellect,  sturdy  limbs,  and  strong- 
faith — used  to  wander  from  morn  till  evening  on  the  shores  of 
the  Firth  of  Forth,  seeking  to  extract  the  secrets  of  the  boulder- 
clays  and  brick-earths,  and  to  unravel  the  old  coast-lines. 
The  result  of  his  labours  in  this  direction  was  published  in 
1 864  by  his  widow.  No  attempt  was  made  to  account  for  the 
ice-period,  or  the  direction  in  which  ice  moved  ;  but  Hugh 
Miller,  as  usual,  saw  a  picture  of  the  old  ice-world  of  Scotland 
through  its  marks,  and  showed  his  vision  to  others  painted  in 
coloured  words. 

At  page  35*  is  a  woodcut  which  is  not  a  picture,  but  repre- 
sents a  fact.  It  is  a  rough  plan  of  a  "boulder  pavement ;"  a 
patch  of  boulder-clay  washed  clean  by  the  waves  of  the  Firth  ; 
an  old  ice-pressed  sea-bottom  of  stones  squeezed  into  clay  and 
ground  in  their  bed. 

*  Edinburgh  and  its  Nei(jlil><wr1ioo<J,  etc.,  l>y  Hugh   Miller.     Adam  and 
Charles  Black,  1864. 


GAL  WAY  CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,  EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.       103 

The  geologist  says — 

"The  agent  was  evidently  the  same  as  that  which  grooved  and 
polished  the  rocks  beneath.  It  was  the  ocean-borne  ieebergal  cars  of 
winter  that  rutted  these  strange  subterranean  pavements,  compared 
with  which,  those  of  the  buried  cities  of  Vesuvius  are  as  yesterday. 
All  of  them  I  have  seen  have  their  direction  and  striation  east-north- 
east— the  general  direction  in  the  district  of  lines  and  grooves  of  the 
rock  below." 

From  ice-marks,  old  shells,  the  position  of  shell-beds,  the 
shape  of  contour  coast-lines,  and  other  evidence,  Hugh  Miller 
concluded  that  a  glacial  period — the  life  of  arctic  sea-shells, 
sea-ice,  and  rock-grinding — coincided  with  a  sea-level  at  least 
1000  feet  higher  on  Scotch  hills  than  the  present  beach.  From 
the  levels  of  old  sea-margins,  from  the  depth  of  the  double  line 
of  sea-caves  at  the  Sutors  of  Cromarty,  and  such  evidence,  he 
attempted  to  deduce  a  few  limits  of  time,  and  a  rate  of  change. 
Of  the  reality  of  the  ice-period,  and  the  direction  in  which 
sea-ice  moved,  he  was  satisfied,  and  his  direction  corresponds 
to  the  observations  above  detailed. 

Nwth  Berunck. — Marks  on  Arthur's  Seat  point  towards 
North  Berwick. 

The  Law  is  an  isolated  conical  hill  of  igneous  rock  61*7 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  at  the  end  of  this  Scotch  part  of  the 
Galway  curve.  The  low  country  is  chiefly  composed  of  sand- 
stones and  beds  of  whin,  and  the  soil  is  a  mixture  of  glacial 
drift  and  volcanic  debris. 

The  top  of  North  Berwick  Law  is  much  wreathered,  but 
grooves  are  still  visible  on  the  highest  point  of  the  hill. 

Looking  downwards,  all  the  small  rocky  islands  in  the 
Firth  seem  to  be  ice-polished  from  the  direction  of  the  ebb- 
tide, but  the  high  grooves  were  probably  made  from  the 
north-east.  A  stick  laid  in  one  of  the  high  grooves  points 


104  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

like  a  weathercock  on  a  steeple  at  places  from  which  ice 
caine  and  to  which  it  went.  One  end  points  out  to  sea  at 
Scandinavia,  the  other  towards  Ireland  along  the  ice-track 
which  has  thus  been  followed  from  Shan  Folagh  to  North 
Berwick  Law.  The  bearings  in  Ireland  were  N.E.  by  N, 
here  they  are  E.N.E. 

Because  of  the  shape  of  the  rock-surface  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  ice  made  these  high  grooves,  and  if  it  was  land-ice 
the  source  of  the  glacier  may  have  been  in  Scandinavia  ;  it 
cannot  have  been  in  Scotland,  because  of  the  high  marks. 

Near  the  top  of  North  Berwick  Law  is  a  strange  old  thorn 
which  shows  the  force  of  the  prevailing  S.  W.  wind.  Branches 
and  trunk  stream  far  away  from  the  root,  bowing  towards 
the  N.E.,  and  every  exposed  tree  in  the  neighbourhood 
points  the  same  way.  The  equatorial  current  of  wind  sweeps 
over  the  land  from  Galway  to  North  Berwick,  and  winds 
amongst  the  hills  like  any  other  stream.  An  arctic  current 
of  water  surely  flowed  along  the  same  curves  in  the  opposite 
direction  from  North  Berwick  to  Galway.  Grooves  and  trees 
tell  one  consistent  story  all  the  way. 

If  the  excellent  Ordnance  map  of  the  Firth  of  Forth  is  set 
up  where  the  general  shape  of  the  country  can  be  seen,  a 
curve  drawn  from  Bergen  to  North  Berwick  passes  between 
the  Pentlands  and  the  Lammermuir  Hills.  Looking  down 
from  the  Pentlands  this  country  is  seen  like  a  map,  and  it 
would  be  a  sea-bottom  at  the  level  of  ice-grooves  on  North 
Berwick  Law.  If  a  current  flowed  from  N.E.  over  Scotland 
at  the  1000  feet  level,  it  would  curve  round  the  Fife  hills, 
as  the  flood-tide  now  curves  round  the  East  Neuk  of  Fife  on 
its  way  up  towards  Stirling.  The  high  ice-grooves  coincide 
with  ridges  and  hollows  laid  down  on  the  Ordnance  map 
between  the  Lammermuir  and  Ochil  Hills.  If  the  map  were 


GALWAY  CURVE — LANARKSHIRE,  EAST  LOTHIAN,  ETC.   105 

laid  according  to  its  bearings  on  the  top  of  North  Berwick 
Law,  the  great  glen  of  Scotland  would  coincide  with  the  groove 
which  ice  made  at  one  end  of  it.  It  seems  fair  to  conclude 
that  floating  ice  and  ocean-currents — the  tools  which  made 
the  small  groove — also  made  the  big  groove  which  contains 
so  many  ice-marks  of  so  many  sorts  and  sizes. 

When  the  Ordnance  map  is  studied,  or  when  any  tract  in 
this  district  is  seen  from  a  high  hill,  the  form  of  the  wearing 
or  denudation  is  seen  to  differ  at  different  levels  on  both  sides 
of  the  Firth.  Down  to  a  certain  level  (about  800  feet)  hill- 
glens  branch  and  radiate  from  high  points  and  ridges.  Streams 
which  flow  into  the  Tweed  are  like  twigs  on  a  branch  which 
springs  from  the  sea  at  the  English  border ;  glens  in  like 
manner  radiate  from  the  Ochils.  But  below  a  certain  level, 
in  the  big  hollow,  all  ridges  and  hollows  run  in  sweeping 
curves  like  mud-banks  in  the  Firth,  which  follow  the  run  of 
tides  which  wear  them.  These  shapes  tell  of  water-work  ; 
the  sea-shells  at  Airdrie  prove  the  case,  the  ice-marks  speak 
for  themselves. 

Streams  of  rain-water,  which  flow  into  the  big  glen  from 
hills  which  make  the  sides,  are  now  cutting  small  cross 
furrows  to  the  sea,  like  those  which  older  streams  of  water 
and  ice  cut  out  at  the  upper  level  The  Scotch  map  then 
seems  to  show  two  distinct  forms  of  denudation — one  due  to 
radiating  local  systems,  the  other  to  a  general  system  of  move- 
ment from  N.E.  to  S.W.  The  Irish  map  shows  similar  forms. 

So  here  is  another  link  in  the  chain.  From  Galway  to 
North  Berwick  rocks  have  been  worn  and  grooves  made  by 
ice  ;  floating  in  an  ocean-current,  south-westward  ;  but  high 
hills  have  also  been  worn,  and  grooves  made  in  their  sides 
by  land-glaciers  sliding  in  every  possible  direction,  down- 
wards, into  the  sea,  from  watersheds.  The  sea-level  was  a 


100 


BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND.. 


high  one  when  the  horizontal  marks  were  made,  for  they 
rise  high. 

The  broad  track  taken  up  at  Galway  seems  to  be  carried 
over  one  part  of  Scotland.  If  followed  from  North  Berwick 
the  spoor  should  be  found  about  Stavanger,  where  it  was  left 
in  chap.  xvii.  The  next  cast  is  northwards  to  seek  the  New- 
port curve  which  was  left  on  the  top  of  Beinn  Bhreac  in 
chap,  xxxiii. 


Fio.  77.   A  WATER-MARK  IN  ICELAND.— MERKIAR  Foss  NEAR  HEKI.. 
5th  August  18(51. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

BALTIC   CURRENT  8 — BRITISH   ISLES  7 — SCOTLAND   4— 
GALWAY  CURVE — NORTH-EAST  COAST. 

Scotland — Galway  Curve. — IF  one  great  glen  in  Scotland  was 
partly  hollowed  out  by  ice,  and  has  been  so  little  altered  by 
water  and  weather  as  to  retain  ice-marks  half  an  inch  deep, 
in  many  spots  ;  it  is  probable  that  other  Scotch  glens  are  but 
ice-grooves  on  a  large  scale,  and  that  many  of  them  are  parts 
of  curves  which  record  the  movements  of  a  general  glacial 
system  whose  centre  is  the  North  Pole,  and  whose  path,  like 
that  of  the  present  Greenland  Current,  was  like  the  curve  of 
the  letter  P,  part  of  the  figure  8  drawn  on  a  meridian. 

A  glance  at  a  map  will  show  that  the  Galway  curve  coin- 
cides in  general  direction  with  many  of  the  glens  which 
cross  Scotland,  with  rivers,  firths,  sounds,  and  main  coast- 
lines ;  denudation  in  Scotland  as  in  Ireland  has  manifest 
reference  to  curves  which  cross  meridians  from  north-east  to 
south-west  or  thereby.  The  Galway  curve  was  run  out  at 
North  Berwick  ;  it  can  also  be  followed  along  the  north- 
eastern coast.  The  tract  to  be  searched  for  the  Westport 
line  found  on  Beinn  Bhreac  in  Argyllshire  is  somewhere  in 
central  Scotland,  about  Loch  Ericht  or  Loch  Garry  ;  so  the 
way  is  north. 

At  the  level  of  marks  found  on  Dechmont  and  North 
Berwick  Law,  the  Ochil  Hills  would  be  a  steep  island  cut  off 


108  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

from  central  Scotland  by  a  strait  through  which  the  Scottish 
Central  Eailway  now  passes  to  Perth. 

Stirling,  or  Windy  Gap  as  it  is  called  in  Gaelic,  is  at  one 
end  of  the  strait  where  it  joins  the  valley  which  now  holds  the 
river  Forth ;  and  here  a  railway  crosses  to  Loch  Lomond, 
following  the  low  level.  On  the  castle-rock,  Maclaren 
found  marks  of  a  movement  from  the  N.W.  Sir  James  Hall 
found  dressings  which  pointed  the  same  way  ;  but  if  a 
current  came  from  the  E.,  it  would  bend  round  the  foot  of  the 
Ochils. 

The  Carse  of  Stirling  is  an  alluvial  plain  of  rich  flat  land, 
with  sweeping  mounds  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand  rising  every 
here  and  there.  The  stones  are  small  and  look  water-worn, 
and  the  shape  of  the  country  is  the  shape  of  a  dry  river-bed. 
Canoes,  the  skeleton  of  a  whale,  shells,  and  other  such  marks, 
confirm  the  evidence  of  form.  The  battle  of  Bannockburn 
was  fought  upon  an  old  sea-bottom. 

The  rock  on  which  Stirling  Castle  is  built,  the  Abbey 
Craig  on  which  a  monument  is  slowly  rising  to  the  memory 
of  Wallace,  and  other  hills  in  this  tract,  are  of  the  same 
pattern  as  Salisbury  Crags  and  Dechmont.  They  are  broken 
knobs  of  hard  rock,  and  they  seem  to  be  tors  worn  from  the 
Scandinavian  side,  for  they  are  broken  to  the  westward. 

The  Scottish  Central  line  passes  northwards  in  the  lee  of 
the  Ochils,  and  at  the  Bridge  of  Allan  it  leaves  the  plain. 
The  cuttings  are  through  masses  of  glacial  drift  fifty  feet  thick 
at  least.  The  beds  are  not  stratified  ;  the  stones  are  not  sized 
and  sorted  ;  but  big  and  little  stones  of  many  kinds  are  con- 
fusedly mixed  with  fine  soil.  The  materials  are  glacial,  but 
the  surface-form  is  aqueous. 

At  Dunblane,  150  feet  up  ;  about  Greenloaning,  300  ;  and 
thence  to  the  watershed,  350,  where  the  Allan  is  left  and  water 


GALWAY  CURVE — NORTH-EAST  COAST.  109 

flows  towards  the  Firth  of  Tay,  the  shape  of  the  country  is 
like  the  shape  of  the  Carse  of  Stirling  and  the  neighbourhood 
of  Falkirk.  It  is  a  large  copy  of  a  broad  west  country  sound 
when  the  tide  ebbs.  Flat  fields  suddenly  end  in  hillocks, 
steep  points,  and  ridges,  whose  slope  is  the  slope  of  loose 
rubbish.  There  are  piles  of  drift  in  the  supposed  strait 
which  joined  the  Firths  of  Clyde  and  Tay,  and  the  shape  is 
that  of  the  model  (vol.  i.  p.  380).  Above  this  drift  the  hills 
are  barely  covered  with  turf.  They  are  rocks,  but  rounded 
to  the  veiy  top. 

Seen  from  Falkirk  the  Ochils  slope  down  to  Fife,  but  fall 
suddenly  towards  Stirling.  Seen  against  an  evening  sky  from 
hills  above  Dundee,  the  Scandinavian  side  of  the  Ochil  hills  has 
the  same  general  outline  ;  but  the  low  shoulder  is  like  a  great 
rolling  stormy  sea,  driven  westward  by  a  north-easter,  for  the 
larger  form  is  repeated  in  miniature  as  ripples  copy  larger 
waves  ;  all  the  low  ridges  slope  towards  the  sea  and  are  steep 
to  the  land.  On  the  weather-side,  near  Fife  and  about  Perth, 
there  is  less  drift,  and  it  is  more  evenly  and  thinly  spread 
over  the  rocks.  So  the  shape  of  the  Ochils  is  like  that  of 
smaller  tors  on  which  ice-marks  remain. 

At  Auchterarder,  200  feet  up,  the  hills  of  central  Scotland 
are  seen.  When  the  first  snow  of  winter  has  whitened  the 
hill-tops,  and  a  bright  sun  shines  through  a  clear  frosty  air, 
every  mountain  form  is  clearly  shown  by  colour,  light,  and 
shade.  The  hills  are  seen  to  be  rounded  weathered  masses  of 
stratified  rock,  with  sides  furrowed  by  glens  radiating  from 
the  watershed  down  to  a  certain  level.  Below  that,  ridges 
and  furrows  sweep  along  the  hills.  There  are  visible  marks 
of  vertical  and  of  horizontal  denudation  on  the  mountains  be- 
yond Strathearn. 

Weathered  edges  of  the  strata,  when  picked  out  with  snow- 


110  BALTIC   CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES— SCOTLAND. 

drifts,  make  the  great  hills  like  coloured  \voodeu  models. 
They  owe  their  convex  rounded  shoulders  and  hollow  glens 
to  carving,  as  models  do ;  and  their  structure,  like  the  grain  in 
wood,  has  nothing  to  do  with  their  surface-forms. 

Amongst  these  distant  hills  are  well-known  well-remembered 
river-marks.  Steep  picturesque  gorges,  where  birches  wave, 
and  heather  blooms  over  gray  crags  ;  where  mountain-streams 
brawl  and  thunder  down  into  black  boiling  pools,  from  which 
they  leap  foaming,  till  they  reach  some  quiet  lake  and  rest. 
There,  the  broad  Tay  winds  past  Taymouth,  and  the  Isla  glides 
past  "  the  Bonnie  House  o'  Airlie  ;"  silver  threads  in  a  carpet 
of  green.  But  these  are  not  the  tools  which  carved  these 
mountains,  glittering  like  silver  in  the  crisp  frosty  air.  Rivers 
might  work  for  millions  of  years,  biit  they  never  could  do 
such  work.  As  well  might  an  artist  sculpture  a  bust  with  a 
hand-saw. 

This  work  was  done  with  other  tools. 

Looking  north-east  from  Auchterarder  the  horizon  is  clear 
of  hills,  and  the  plain  of  Strathmore  fades  in  the  distance. 
But  on  either  side  of  this  level  strait  of  rich  flat  land  rise 
steep  islands  of  rock.  The  Sidlaw  Hills  are  to  the  right  be- 
hind Perth,  and  the  Forfarshire  hills,  on  the  left,  stretch  to 
the  blue  horizon.  On  such  a  day,  when  a  wide  tract  is  seen 
like  a  model,  it  is  easy  to  fancy  the  horizontal  snow-line  to 
be  a  sea-margin,  and  to  follow  the  coast  along  the  dark  line 
where  the  snow  is  melted. 

The  dark  lines  on  a  railway  map  show  low  grounds  ;  and 
here  railways  surround  two  blocks  of  high  land ;  they  mark 
out  the  base  of  the  Ochils  and  Sidlaw  Hills.  There  is  a  tract 
of  low  land  all  the  way  from  Aberdeen  to  Greenock  ;  and  if 
the  sea  were  at  the  snow-line,  tides  might  ebb  and  flow  along 
the  east  coast  of  central  Scotland  and  round  the  coasts  of  the 


GALWAY  CURVE — NORTH-EAST  COAST.  Ill 

islands  of  Ochil  and  Sidlaw.  If  the  ebb  did  in  fact  pass  west- 
ward, bearing  vast  graving-tools,  and  grinding  hills  with  them, 
their  marks  should  be  found  on  the  north-eastern  islands,  and 
in  particular  on  the  Sidlaw  range. 

Sidlaiv  Hills. — The  next  large  north-eastern  island,  at  the 
500  feet  level,  would  be  the  Sidlaw  range,  which  stretches  from 
Perth  almost  to  Forfar  about  N.  30°  E.  The  steepest  ends  of 
the  hills  and  broken  cliffs  face  the  south  and  south-west,  and 
the  longest  slopes  are  towards  Forfar  and  Strathmore. 

StratJimore,  the  big  glen,  runs  parallel  to  the  Firth  of  Tay, 
and  cuts  the  Sidlaw  range  from  central  Scotland.  A  railway 
follows  tliis  old  strait  over  flat  land  from  Perth  to  Aberdeen 
now  ;  but  at  the  500  feet  level,  Strathmore  would  be  a  strait. 
A  stream,  which  rises  behind  Dundee  at  a  low  level,  flows 
into  Strathmore,  past  the  northern  end  of  the  Sidlaw  Hills, 
round  by  Perth,  and  so  down  the  Firth  of  Tay  past  Dundee, 
and  back  to  within  a  few  miles  of  its  source.  The  hills  which 
are  thus  isolated  are  about  1000  to  1300  feet  high.  They  are 
chiefly  composed  of  sandstone  and  bedded  trap. 

The  Carse  of  Gowrie  to  the  south  is  a  low  plain  of  rich 
clay-land  highly  cultivated.  It  is  very  little  above  the  pre- 
sent sea-level  ;  and  many  marks  show  that  it  was  under  water 
at  a  late  period.  Keeds  force  their  way  up  amongst  the  corn 
from  bogs  which  are  now  buried.  Eveiy  now  and  then  a 
rude  boat,  an  anchor,  an  iron  ring,  or  some  other  mark,  turns 
up  a  long  way  from  the  present  shore. 

The  air  above  the  Carse  is  often  heavy  with  water,  and, 
as  the  natives  say,  "  In  rimy  weather,  when  the  frost  takes 
the  air,  when  ye  look  doon  frae  the  hills,  it's  just  like  a 
pond."  Looking  down  from  a  height  of  700  feet,  on  a  still 
frosty  morning,  the  whole  Carse  is  hidden  by  a  level  sea  of 
mist,  above  whose  distant  horizon  peer  dark  islands,  in  Fife 


112  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES— SCOTLAND. 

and  Kinross.  The  Ochil  Hills  and  the  Fife  Lomonds  are  the 
islands  in  this  misty  sea.  From  its  depths  rise  sounds  of  busy 
life — barking  of  dogs,  the  crowing  of  cocks,  the  low  of  kine, 
the  cawing  of  rooks,  the  rattle  of  carts,  the  buzzing  of 
steam-ploughs,  the  distant  roar  of  the  train,  and  the  near 
voices  of  men  ;  but  for  all  that  appears  to  the  eye,  the  Carse 
and  the  low  lands  of  Scotland  might  be  a  sea-bottom  a 
hundred  fathoms  down.  The  Carse  was  a  sea-bottom,  and 
deeper  down,  since  the  Sidlaw  Hills  took  their  present  shape. 

Behind  Rossie  are  two  wide  straths,  which  at  800  feet 
would  join  Strathmore  to  the  sea.  These  glens,  seen  from  the 
col,  seem  to  run  N.E.,  but  below  800  feet  they  are  shel- 
tered from  the  N.E.  by  hills.  The  glens  make  a  kind  of 
bay  in  the  range.  At  900  feet,  at  the  head  of  these  glens,  and 
at  450  feet,  at  the  back  of  the  first  range,  are  collections  of 
drift.  When  a  field  is  newly  taken  in,  thousands  of  large 
stones  are  taken  from  the  red  soil.  Amongst  them  are  speci- 
mens of  gray  granite,  white  quartz,  contorted  gritty  stone,  blue 
limestone  with  white  veins,  whinstone,  brown  trap,  hard  gray 
and  white  quartz  rock,  mica-schist,  porphyry,  greenstone,  and 
other  hard  rocks.  Many  of  these  are  smoothed  and  grooved. 
Similar  stones  are  built  into  walls,  bridges,  and  houses,  and 
they  are  broken  up  in  thousands.  This  then  was  a  cross 
sound  amongst  the  Sidlaw  Hills  at  800  feet;  and  at  700  a 
sheltered  corner  in  which  drift  gathered.  When  the  col  dried 
at  800  feet  the  glens  were  sea-lochs,  dotted  with  islands,  which 
are  now  steep  hills. 

The  hills  are  all  sandstone  and  trap.  The  beds  dip  various 
ways,  but  the  dip  and  fracture  do  not  accord  with  the  shape 
of  the  hills  and  glens.  It  is  plain  that  they  were  carved  out ; 
the  question  is — By  what  means? 

From  one  col  (800  feet)  a  steep  pull  leads  to  the  foot  of  a 


GALWAY  CURVE — NORTH-EAST  COAST.  113 

cliff  of  igneous  rock,  which  seems,  by  its  structure,  to  have 
boiled.  The  old  igneous  surface  on  the  upper  side  of  one 
layer  may  be  seen  by  moving  the  next  plate.  The  rock  is 
like  Icelandic  lava,  a  hardened  brown  crumpled  froth.  The 
tops  of  "  the  Giant's  Hill"  above  the  cliff  1350  feet,  overlook 
Strathmore,  and  they  are  rounded  knolls.  The  rock-surface 
generally  is  too  much  weathered  for  strife,  but  some  remain. 
They  point  K  58°  E. 

The  King's  Seat  is  the  highest  point  in  the  range,  1400 
feet.  The  shoulder  is  manifestly  ice-ground,  but  too  much 
weathered  for  marks.  The  top  is  an  artificial  barrow  of  loose 
stones,  on  which  the  sappers  and  miners  have  built  their 
cairn.  At  the  foot  of  these  hills,  which  were  marked  at  1350 
feet  by  ice  moving  from  the  N.E.,  are  the  piles  of  drift  above 
mentioned.  On  the  hills  above  1000  feet  there  is  not  a  boul- 
der to  be  found.  But  the  sea  of  mist  floated  up,  and  settled 
upon  the  King's  Seat,  and  then  nothing  was  visible  but  a  gray 
cloud  as  thick  as  Icelandic  thoka. 

At  800  feet,  and  some  miles  nearer  to  Forfar,  a  hill-top,  at 
the  head  of  this  basin,  called  Bala  Hill,  was  drawn  blank  for 
ice-grooves,  but  a  polished  grooved  block  of  porphyry  was 
found  in  a  field  near  the  top. 

Further  north,  at  about  900  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  foot 
of  a  trap-cliff  above  the  Loch  of  Lundy,  is  a  long  deep  narrow 
strath  which  crosses  the  range  diagonally.  Through  this 
groove  distant  hills  about  Glenartney  are  seen  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  in  the  other  the  coast  is  clear  to  Scandinavia.  At 
this  level  it  would  be  clear  to  Galway  also.  At  this  spot  is 
a  bare  rock-surface  about  20  yards  square,  much  weathered 
but  deeply  furrowed  in  the  direction  of  the  glen,  N.E.  by  E. 
A  steep  slope  of  grass-grown  talus  32°  and  40°  leads  to  the 
top  of  the  cliff,  1150  feet,  and  from  this  point  the  hills  of 

VOL.  II.  I 


114  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

central  Scotland  are  well  seen  on  a  clear  day.  Ben  Ledi, 
Ben  Vorlich,  Ben  Mor,  Ben  Lawers,  Schiehalion,  the  Cairn- 
gorm range,  and  the  Braes  of  Angus,  are  all  seen  beyond 
Strathmore,  with  its  winding  rivers  and  rich  corn-land.  The 
Fife  Lomonds  and  the  Ochils  are  seen  beyond  the  Firth  of 
Tay.  On  the  top  of  Lundy  Hill,  near  the  edge  of  the  cliff, 
the  rocks  are  manifestly  ice-ground  but  weathered.  Near  a 
new  wire-fence,  a  surface  newly  laid  bare  is  better  preserved, 
and  grooves  on  it  point  S.  75°  E.  out  to  sea  at  Denmark  and 
Sweden.  Other  weathered  marks  seem  to  point  E.  and  W. 
and  others  N.E.  ;  but  without  a  spade  to  remove  the  turf, 
fresh  surfaces  are  hard  to  find.  None  of  these  high  marks 
point  directly  across  Strathmore  at  central  Scotland,  but  they 
point  along  the  Sidlaw  range,  and  the  glens  in  it,  and  join  in 
with  the  line  marked  out  by  railways.  Looking  towards 
central  Scotland,  it  is  seen  to  be  a  rounded  block  ^ — x,  with 
conical  mountains  A  rising  above  it.  It  is  well  named  Driom 
Albain,  the  back  of  Scotland. 

At  about  900  feet,  on  an  isolated  top  near  a  keeper's  house, 
at  a  place  called  Wart  Well,  about  four  miles  south  of  Lundy 
Hill,  strife  on  a  trap  surface  freshly  bared  by  the  fall  of  a  tree 
point  N.  60°  E.  out  to  sea.  These  marks  are  nearly  parallel 
to  the  general  run  of  the  tides  in  the  Firth  of  Tay. 

Thus,  from  about  1300  feet  down  to  about  900,  high  grooves 
coincide  generally  with  the  probable  run  of  the  tides,  if  the 
sea  were  at  these  levels.  At  1300  feet  the  Sidlaw  Hills  would 
be  rocks  awash,  like  the  Bell  Rock  ;  at  900  feet  they  would  be 
a  straggling  group  of  trap  islands,  some  with  caps  of  sand- 
stone. At  800  feet  the  islands  would  be  joined  by  narrow 
ridges.  At  800  feet  Denmark  would  be  under  water,  and 
Sweden  awash  at  places  to  which  some  grooves  point. 

The  drift  is  generally  below  the  900  feet  level.    It  is 


GALWAY  CURVE — NORTH-EAST  COAST.  115 

foreign  to  the  Sidlaw  range,  and  glacial.  It  did  not  cross 
Strathmore,  and  come  from  central  Scotland,  because  high 
ice-grooves  do  not  point  that  way. 

The  question  is  :  Whence  did  it  come  ?  and  the  grooves  all 
point  eastwards  to  Scandinavia,  as  similar  grooves  did  in  East 
Lotliian.  At  lower  levels  on  the  Hill  of  Dron,  at  four  stations 
about  850,  700,  650,  and  650  feet  high,  and  three  miles  apart, 
well-marked  grooves  on  trap  point  up  into  glens  which  at  800 
feet  would  be  bays.  These  point  K  67°  W.,  N.  78°  W.,  N.  65° 
W.,  N.  65°  W.,  round  the  hill-shoulder  into  the  shelter  ;  they 
point  eastwards  out  to  sea  over  the  Firth  of  Tay,  at  Sweden 
and  the  Baltic.  The  flood-tide  now  makes  a  similar  curve 
round  a  point  close  above  Dundee,  and  the  ebb  returns  by 
the  same  path. 

It  seems  then  that  ice  drifted  over  the  Sidlaw  Hills  when 
their  tops  were,  like  the  Bell  Eock,  awash,  and  that  it  came 
from  the  eastwards  and  northwards,  passing  along  the 
Forfarshire  hills,  and  grounding  on  Lundy  Hill  and  the  Giant's 
Hill  at  1100  and  1300  feet. 

2d,  That  the  stream  split  on  the  Sidlaw  range  when  the 
land  rose,  flowed  down  Strathmore  to  the  Clyde,  and  wound 
about  in  straits  amongst  the  Sidlaw  islands,  grounding  floats 
on  the  Hill  of  Dron,  at  900  feet. 

3d,  When  that  hill-top  rose  the  stream  curled  round  it 
in  the  lee,  beside  the  keeper's  house,  and  flowed  up  into  the 
glens,  as  the  tide  now  does  at  a  lower  level  after  passing 
Dundee. 

ktli,  Whatever  the  stream  did  after  that,  there  seem  to 
have  been  no  land-glaciers  strong  enough  to  remove  the 
glacial  drift  which  is  piled  in  the  glens  as  high  as  900  feet. 

5th,  When  ice  had  done  its  work  it  vanished,  and  streams 
of  water  sorted  the  upper  part  of  the  rubbish.  Eossie 


11G  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES— SCOTLAND. 

means  promontory,  and  Bossie  church  stands  on  a  promontory 
of  drift,  at  about  200  feet  above  the  sea.  The  sides  have  the 
slope  of  rubbish-heaps  sorted  in  water,  and  the  materials  are 
water-washed  glacial  drift.  The  stones  were  gathered  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  piled  in  the  mouth  of  the  glen  on 
whose  sides  are  the  ice-marks  above  mentioned. 

When  the  cold  period  ended  the  bay  in  the  hills  probably 
sent  a  rapid  ebb-tide  through  the  glen  beneath  the  Hill  of 
Dron,  where  the  burn  is  now  cutting  into  the  point  of  drift. 
On  the  point  stands  a  cross  so  old  that  even  the  race  who 
carved  the  sandstone  are  forgotten  ;  yet  the  ice-sculptures  on 
the  hill-side  are  fresher  than  the  quaint  figures  on  the  cross. 

The  rich  clay-land  of  the  Carse  of  Gowrie  seems  to  be 
fine  glacial  drift  and  soil  washed  out  of  coarser  drift  by  rivers 
and  tides,  and  evenly  spread  over  rough  piles  of  coarser  drift, 
gravel,  and  big  stones,  which  are  hidden  under  clay  and 
mould.  The  sand  is  washed  further  down  about  Buttonness 
and  St.  Andrews.  The  rock  marked  by  ice  is  under  the  drift, 
and  shows  wherever  the  covering  is  moved. 

So  when  the  Carse  of  Gowrie  looks  "  like  a  pond,"  and  the 
Sidlaw  Hills  are  islands  in  a  sea  of  mist,  this  part  of  Scotland 
puts  on  an  old  winter  dress  for  the  time.  When  the  sun 
shines  on  it  a  fairer  landscape  would  be  hard  to  find  than  the 
plains  and  hills  which  lie  "  atween  St.  Johnstone's  and  Bonnie 
Dundee." 

Ice-marks  then  here  give  evidence  of  a  rise  in  the  land 
equal  to  1300  feet,  sufficient  to  account  for  great  changes  in 
climate,  and  in  the  course  of  ocean-currents. 

At  500  feet  a  stream  might  flow  where  railways  now 
point  out  the  lowest  ground,  south-westward  from  Aberdeen 
through  Strathmore,  past  Perth  and  Dunblane,  to  Greenock 
on  the  Filth  of  Clyde ;  thence  over  Bute,  past  Arran,  where 


GALWAY  CURVE— NORTH-EAST  COAST. 


117 


ice-marks  at  1000  and  less  than  500  feet  point  along  Ceautire; 
thence  to  Belfast  Lough,  Galway,  and  Connemara. 

The  ice-track  then  has  been  followed  from  Galway  to 
North  Berwick,  and  to  the  Sidlaw  Hills,  and  it  points  thence 
to  Scandinavia,  where  the  curves  are  carried  into  the  Baltic 
by  ice-marks,  at  levels  higher  and  lower  than  the  Hill  of 
Lundy  and  the  Hill  of  Droii,  1150  and  650  feet.  At  higher 
levels  the  curves  must  be  sought  on  higher  Scotch  hills. 


A  fire-mark  uiulfr  ivitler-tnarki  aitd  ue-marits  in  S<offati<f. 

FIG.  78.   GRANITE  VEINS  IN  SHATTERED  BEDS  OF  ALTERED  SLATK. 
RAILWAY  CUTTING  AT  DALWHINNY  (j>.  121). 

Drawn  from  nature  on  the  block.     Reversed. 


CHAPTEE    XXXVI. 

BALTIC   CURRENT   9 — BRITISH  ISLES   8 — SCOTLAND  5 — NEWPORT 
LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND. 

THE  next  cast  is  northwards  to  seek  the  Newport  curve  on 
the  ridge  of  central  Scotland. 

Central  Highlands. — A  new  mountain  railway  leads  from 
Perth  through  the  central  Highlands  along  the  line  of  the  old 
Highland  road.  It  follows  and  crosses  a  number  of  theoretical 
curves  of  movement  shown  on  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  232). 

It  first  runs  up  the  valley  of  the  Tay,  leaving  Strathmore 
at  Logierait. 

Here  a  groove  leads  from  Aberdeen  along  the  foot  of  the 
Forfarshire  hills  to  the  west  coast  by  way  of  Loch  Tay,  south 
of  Schiehalion,  through  Glendochart  to  Loch  Fyne. 

The  bottom  of  this  groove  is  filled  with  lakes  and  flat 
alluvial  plains,  through  which  noble  rivers  wind.  The  sides 
are  ice-ground  hills,  with  terraces  of  drift  along  their  flanks, 
and  piles  of  drift  opposite  to  each  cross  glen  which  joins  the 
main  line. 

Before  Scotland  lifted  her  back,  at  the  sea-level  indicated 
by  high  grooves  on  Beinn  Bhreac,  near  Inverary,  and  on  the 
Sidlaw  Hills,  this  was  a  strait ;  and  according  to  the  marks 
above  described,  ice  then  moved  in  this  groove  south-westwards 
to  Tarbert  in  Ceantire,  and  the  Giant's  Causeway  in  Ireland. 

Main  roads  follow  low  grounds  across  Scotland,  and 
coaches  and  streams  of  tourists  have  succeeded  ocean-currents, 


NEWPORT  LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND.  119 

icebergs,  and  boulders;  but  before  the  flood  of  travellers  poured 
into  these  glens,  a  tribe  of  land-glaciers  perched  upon  the 
Highland  hills,  and  slid  down  from  the  high  mountains  into 
long  sea-lochs.  At  some  sea-level  this  ice  thoroughfare  was 
barred  by  a  col  about  the  braes  of  Balquhidder,  and  thence- 
forth ice  must  have  moved  north-east  along  the  course  now 
followed  by  the  Tay  and  its  feeders. 

But  Scotch  ice,  grown  in  Balquhidder,  and  launched  about 
Dundee,  might  still  sail  to  Ireland  through  the  deeper  channel 
of  the  Galway  curve,  and  join  a  Glenfalloch  iceberg  launched  at 
Dumbarton,  off  Arran  in  the  Firth  of  Clyde. 

The  railway  follows  a  branch  of  the  Tay  to  the  Pass  of 
Killiecrankie,  and  there,  at  the  GOO  feet  level,  was  a  sea-loch. 
Many  of  the  railway  cuttings  are  through  drift,  many  em- 
bankments are  piles  of  drift.  In  the  autumn  of  1863  great 
boulders,  freshly  dug  from  the  hill-side,  were  scattered  along 
the  whole  line.  Low  down,  where  rock-surfaces  were  newly 
uncovered,  they  retained  their  polish.  High  up  on  the  sky- 
line the  hill-tops  are  rounded,  and  smooth  wet  rocks  shine 
like  convex  mirrors  amongst  the  grass  and  heather. 

At  Killiecrankie  a  second  series  of  glens  leads  south- 
westward  to  the  west  coast,  passing  north  of  Schiehalion,  by 
way  of  Eannoch  and  the  Forest  of  Glenorchy  to  Loch  Awe, 
where  marks  at  1650  feet  point  at  these  glens. 

At  Struan,  north  of  Blair-Athol,  the  railway  has  passed 
the  600  feet  level,  and  here  is  a  conspicuous  moraine  of  which 
a  cutting  gives  a  section. 

From  this  point  the  way  rises  over  a  col  to  the  end  of 
Loch  Garry,  1330  feet.  The  rocks  there  are  ice-ground  and 
the  soil  is  glacial  drift.  Here  a  third  set  of  glens  lead  from 
DriomUachdar,the  upper  ridge  of  Scotland,  and  the  Cairngorm 
range,  south-westward  by  way  of  Loch  Lyddoch  to  Loch  Awe 


120  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES— SCOTLAND. 

and  Beinn  Bhreac,  where  ice-marks  at  1650  feet  pointed  N.E. 
by  K  With  the  sea  at  perched  blocks  on  Benin  Bhreac  stones 
might  sail  upon  ice  from  Loch  Garry  to  Argyllshire  hills.  So 
the  perched  blocks  on  Beinn  Bhreac  may  have  come  from 
Cairngorm,  or  the  hill  of  the  black  pig,  which  Saxons  call 
Ben  Macdui. 

At  1480  feet  (1620  by  barometer),  the  watershed  is  passed, 
and  the  level  of  perched  blocks  on  Beinn  Bhreac  is  1650,  or 
170  feet  to  spare. 

Water  now  runs  north-eastward  to  Speymouth,  and  as 
soon  as  this  col  dried,  laud-ice  must  have  slid  the  same  way 
that  water  flows. 

At  this  high  level  in  central  Scotland  hill-tops  are 
rounded  and  rocks  ice-ground.  Here  are  large  piles  of 
glacial  drift,  apparently  the  moraines  of  glaciers  which  slid 
down  small  glens  on  the  western  side  of  the  railway.  The 
hillocks  are  200  feet  high  at  least,  and  their  shape  contrasts 
with  that  of  drift  hills  near  Dunblane. 

They  consist  of  large  boulders,  gravel,  and  sand,  and 
amongst  the  boulders  are  many  of  a  fine  hard  gray  granite. 
These  are  in  such  abundance  that  they  have  been  used  to 
build  bridges  and  other  railway  works.  There  are  also 
specimens  of  a  very  heavy  tough  compact  red  porphyry,  and 
blocks  of  quartz,  gneiss,  and  altered  flags  of  various  colours. 
The  hills  are  of  the  latter  rock,  which  is  much  shattered  and 
veined  with  pink  granite.  No  gray  granite  is  found  in  situ 
on  this  hill. 

In  a  railway  cutting  opposite  to  one  of  these  piles  of  drift, 
a  quartz  rock  surface  has  been  laid  bare.  It  is  ground  very 
smooth,  and  grooves  on  it  point  N.  38°  E.  down  into  Glen 
Traim,  and  S.  38°  W.  up  into  the  glen.  This  spot  is  about 
1480  feet  above  the  sea. 


NEWPORT  LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND.  121 

A  little  further  on  a  second  smaller  glen  on  the  same  side 
has  a  smaller  pile  of  rubbish  in  the  opening.  This  glen  is 
about  six  miles  long  and  clear  of  drift  high  up. 

At  Dalwhinny,  at  about  1169  feet,  a  fourth  groove  is 
crossed.  It  contains  Strathspey  to  the  north-east,  Loch 
Ericht  and  Loch  Awe,  and  the  Sound  of  Jura,  to  the  south- 
west. With  ice  floating  at  1650  feet,  central  Scotland  would 
be  an  archipelago  intersected  by  narrow  sounds,  and  this  was 
a  strait  500  feet  deep. 

So  here  is  the  tract  in  which  the  line  marked  on  Beinn 
Bhreac  is  to  be  sought.  With  Monadh  Liath  (the  hoary 
mountain)  on  one  side,  Monadh  Euagh  (the  russet  range)  and 
Cairngorm  (the  blue  cairn)  on  the  other ;  an  arctic  current 
might  pick  up  Scotch  icebergs  and  Scotch  granite  boulders 
and  carry  them  along  the  Loch  Ericht  trench  to  Inverary,  Ben 
Bhreac,  Ben  Cruachan,  the  Jura  hills,  or  Deny  Veagh  in 
Ireland. 

At  the  600  feet  level  all  these  passes  would  be  stopped ; 
Strathspey  would  be  a  sea-loch  ending  at  Grantown,  and 
boulders  would  have  to  slide  down  Strathspey  and  sail  round 
by  Inverness  and  the  Caledonian  Canal.  If  there  were  no 
ice-rafts,  when  the  land  rose  to  any  particular  level,  the 
voyages  of  boulders  ended  for  the  time. 

A  particular  kind  of  boulder,  carried  to  a  certain  height, 
in  a  particular  direction,  marks  sea-level,  movement,  and  a 
cold  climate,  for  it  is  a  float  which  ice  alone  can  carry. 

On  the  soutli  side  of  Loch  Ericht  is  a  high  ridge  of  gritty 
flags  and  slates  traversed  by  veins  of  pink  granite  ;  it  is  a 
spur  of  Driom  Uaclidar. 

In  a  rock-cutting  at  Dalwhinuy  the  rock  is  bare  ;  on  the 
hill-top  it  crops  out,  and  it  is  seen  in  burns  at  other  spots, 
many  miles  apart,  high  and  low.  The  hill  would  be  an  island 


122  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

at  1650  feet.  At  Dalwhinny,  boulders  of  gray  granite  abound. 
They  are  foreigners  who  travelled  on  ice  from  some  other 
district,  and  to  get  to  the  end  of  Loch  Ericht  they  must  have 
moved  up  hill  if  they  travelled  on  land-ice.  If  they  travelled 
on  sea-ice  they  mark  old  sea-levels,  and  here  they  mark  about 
1350  feet  at  the  end  of  the  loch. 

They  mark  higher  levels  on  the  spur  of  Driom  Uachdar, 
which  divides  Loch  Ericht  from  Loch  Garry. 

At  2000  feet  is  a  round  block  of  granite. 

At  2200  is  another,  and  from  this  stone  the  sea-horizon 
towards  Bergen  is  open  north-eastwards  beyond  Speymouth. 
A  pass  lies  open  to  Loch  Leven  on  the  west  coast.  At  the  top 
of  the  ridge  was  a  shallow  pool  made  by  a  turf  washed  in 
between  two  small  hillocks.  At  the  bottom  of  the  pool  was 
a  plain  of  fine  soft  black  peat  mud,  and  fine  sand  washed  in 
by  rain-water.  A  thrust  with  a  stick  demolished  the  dam 
and  drained  the  pool,  and  changed  the  bottom  into  a  working 
model  of  Glen  Truim  and  Strathspey.  Knobs  of  peat  were 
the  hills,  peat-mud  the  drift ;  tufts  of  grass  and  gray  moss 
were  the  forests  ;  the  river  was  a  tiny  rill  of  black  water.  But 
the  water  set  off  for  Speymouth,  and  the  forms  of  the  alluvial 
plains  were  alike.  There  were  terraces  of  stratified  drift ; 
there  the  river-windings,  the  Ys  and  S,  the  banks  of  small 
stones,  high  patches,  long  points,  and  steep  banks  of  drift 
sweeping  round  steeper  and  harder  slopes.  There  were  glens 
of  denudation  circling  round  hard  islands  which  became  hills 
as  the  water  drained  away.  All  these  shapes  formed  in  the 
moss-hole  in  a  few  minutes,  and  they  were  all  formed  long 
ago  in  the  big  glen  below.  The  model  a  few  yards  off,  and 
the  glen  stretching  to  the  horizon,  filled  the  same  space  in  the 
eye,  and  seemed  alike  even  in  size.  Eunning  water  has  done 
great  work  amongst  the  glacial  drifts  of  Strathspey,  according 


NEWPORT  LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND.  123 

to  the  shape  of  the  country,  and  the  lesson  taught  by  the 
model 

At  2650  feet  this  hill-top  at  the  head  of  Strathspey, 
and  about  1000  feet  higher  than  the  col  at  the  western  end 
of  Loch  Ericht,  is  strewed  with  big  stones  of  gneiss  and  pink 
granite.  The  flat  is  rippled  by  the  S.W.  wind.  Stones  are  in 
the  trough,  heather  in  the  lee,  gray  moss  on  the  weather-side 
of  these  waves  ;  and  far  down  below,  waves  driven  along  the 
surface  of  Loch  Ericht  had  the  same  shape.  Even  winds 
leave  a  spoor  where  they  pass. 

This  is  one  great  thoroughfare  for  currents  in  the  lower 
atmosphere,  and  a  whole  wood  of  fir-trees  at  the  inn  lean 
down  towards  Strathspey,  as  if  driven  by  a  strong  S.W.  gale. 
The  prevailing  wind  is  then  an  equatorial  current  moving  N.E. 

At  2580  feet,  within  sight  of  the  Cairngorm  Hills,  are 
three  large  boulders — one  of  gray  granite,  one  of  a  very  coarse 
mica-schist  with  large  weathered  veins  and  nodules  of  white 
quartz,  and  the  third  is  a  coarse  sandstone  grit.  The  litho- 
graph on  the  margin  of  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  496)  is  rouglily 
done  from  a  hasty  sketch  made  here. 

At  the  same  height — six  miles  from  the  inn  and  close 
above  Loch  Ericht — is  another  boulder  of  gray  granite  beside 
a  rock  of  gritty  flag,  traversed  by  pink  granite  and  white 
quartz. 

At  2740  feet  is  another  round  stone  of  the  gray  granite ;  at 
2800  another  three  feet  long  ;  at  2850  three  more  about  the 
same  size  ; — and  all  these  contrast  strangely  with  flat  stones 
amongst  which  they  He. 

At  3150  feet  is  a  cairn  on  the  top  of  the  ridge,  and  at 
this  spot  is  a  wide  view  over  central  Scotland.  Strathspey 
is  open  to  the  sea.  Then  come  Cairngorm  and  Beinn-na-Muic- 
Duibhe,  then  a  hill  shoulder  ;  and  beyond  the  opening  Beinn- 


124  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

y-Gloe.  Then  comes  a  wide  tract  of  lower  ground  open  to  Fife 
and  Stirling ;  then  the  shoulder  of  Ben  Lawers  and  a  lot  of 
near  hills,  which  shut  out  the  distance.  Then  a  notch  through 
which  hills  near  Loch  Tarbert  in  Ceantire  are  seen.  Then  a 
near  hill ;  then  a  wide  opening  at  the  end  of  Loch  Ericht,  with 
Ben  Cruachan  rising  to  the  clouds.  Then  comes  the  mass 
of  Ben  Alder,  with  patches  of  last  year's  snow,  and  Ben 
Nevis  peering  over  it.  A  glen  leading  down  to  the  sea, 
and  a  col  of  800  feet,  divide  Fort-William  from  Strathspey 
in  this  direction.  To  the  north,  the  hills  about  the  Caledonian 
Canal  are  overlooked,  and  something  in  a  cloud  seemed  to  be 
Wyvis.  If  boulders  mark  a  sea-level,  it  is  here  carried  to 
3000  feet  at  least. 

The  hills  of  central  Scotland,  up  to  this  level  and  a  little 
higher,  are  all  rounded  tops  and  hog-backed  ridges,  above 
which  a  few  conical  tops  rise.  At  this  level  gray  granite 
boulders  mark  floating  ice,  which  might  wander  amongst 
those  peaks  in  any  direction.  A  man  may  travel  on  ridges 

^ — ^  or  in  hollows  » <•   from  N.E.  to  S.W.  without  much 

climbing  ;  if  he  travels  in  any  other  direction,  he  must  mount 
and  descend  from  glen  to  glen. 

A  puff  of  cold  wjnd  and  a  wreath  of  mist  blotted  out  the 
whole  of  this  wide  landscape,  and  Scotland  disappeared  be- 
hind a  few  drops  of  water,  as  it  hid  under  the  sea  when  the 
boulder  was  dropped  on  the  top  of  Driom  Uachdar. 

Fifty  feet  down  from  the  cairn  are  more  round  blocks  of 
gray  granite,  and  they  occur  all  the  way  down  the  burn-side 
to  the  railway,  three  miles  south  of  Dalwhinny  Inn. 

Now  1480  feet,  the  summit-level  of  this  line,  would  make 
Loch  Ericht  a  sea-strait  ;  and  3100,  the  highest  granite 
boulder,  would  make  the  strait  about  1600  feet  deep  at  the 
shallowest  part.  So  the  railway  bridge  is  built  of  granite 


NEWPORT  LINE— CENTRAL  SCOTLAND.  125 

quarried  somewhere,  and  earned  by  ice  which  floated  where 
clouds  now  settle,  where  grouse  crow,  and  golden  plover 
whistle  and  wheel  in  flocks.  Where  dun  deer  and  mountain 
hares,  ptarmigan,  sportsmen,  keepers,  and  wanderers  now  pass 
to  and  fro,  amongst  green  moss  and  gray  stones,  ice  surely 
floated.  The  railway  train  passes  along  the  bottom  of  a  strait 
which  crossed  Scotland  at  Dalwhinny,  because  transported 
gray  granite  abounds  on  hill-tops  to  the  S.W.  at  a  far  higher 
level  than  the  top  of  the  pass. 

Gray  granite  is  found  in  situ  to  the  N.E.  at  higher  levels. 

Opposite  to  the  end  of  Loch  Ericht  the  drift  seems  to  be 
arranged  by  water.  A  small  proportion  of  the  large  stones 
retain  scratches.  They  generally  have  water-worn  or  weathered 
surfaces.  From  hill-sides  to  the  north  these  rubbish-heaps 
are  seen  to  be  terraced  layers  resting  upon  the  solid  rock,  and 
sweeping  down  into  the  wide  strath  in  points  and  knolls 
rising  one  above  the  other,  like  drift-terraces  in  Norway  and 
Sweden,  though  on  a  smaller  scale.  They  are  the  contour- 
lines  of  the  country  following  the  hollowed  surface  on  which 
they  rest,  up  to  a  certain  line,  beyond  which  are  solitary 
boulders  on  bare  rock  or  in  heather. 

It  is  very  hard  to  represent  these  forms  truly  with  a  pencil. 
For  that  reason  no  woodcut  is  given  of  sketches  done  on  the 
spot.  The  place  is  easy  to  get  at  and  the  forms  are  distinct. 
In  nature  they  are  marked  out  by  colour,  light,  and  shade, 
rather  than  form;  and  on  a  dull  day  they  are  lost  in  the 
distance  ;  but  when  the  sun  shines  they  come  out  clearly. 
Any  one  who  knows  the  Highlands  knows  the  aspect  of  these 
dry  heathery  gravel  hills,  on  which  grouse  delight  to  strut  and 
shout  their  defiant  chorus  of  "  Go  back,  Go  back,  Go  back, 
Cock  Cur-r-r-r !  They  are  "the  parallel  roads"  of  a  great  many 
Highland  glens  besides  Glen  Eoy.  They  are  the  "  ancient  sea- 


126  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

margins"  of  Chambers,  and  here  they  rise  to  nearly  1400  feet. 
In  the  middle  of  Loch  Ericht  (see  map,  voL  i  p.  496)  are  two 
bars,  similar  in  shape  to  bars  which  cross  tideways  in  narrow 
straits ;  as  at  Eoseneath,  near  Greenock ;  in  Alten  Fjord,  in 
Norway  ;  at  Portland,  in  the  south  of  England,  etc.  etc. 

The  ridge  north  of  Loch  Ericht  would  be  an  island  at 
1400  feet,  cut  off  from  another  lower  ridge  about  2000  feet 
high  by  a  deep  glen.  In  the  glen  was  a  glacier.  A  rock- 
surface  has  been  laid  bare  by  a  torrent  which  has  washed 
away  part  of  a  terrace  of  drift ;  enough  of  gray  granite  to 
make  a  railway  bridge  is  strewed  below.  The  rock  is  a 
hard  fine  dark  quartz  with  beds  dipping  W.KW.  26°.  Grooves 
on  their  edges  are  horizontal,  and  point  east  into  Glen 
Truim.  The  terrace  of  drift  is  100  feet  thick  at  least, 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  glen,  the  burn  has  dug  into  the 
rock,  exposing  a  set  of  nearly  vertical  strata.  This,  then,  is  a 
fault ;  a  rift  which  ice  found  and  smoothed  and  filled  with 
glacial  drift.  Lower  down  the  hummocks  of  a  moraine  are 
piled  in  rows  opposite  to  the  glen  ;  but  600  feet  higher  up,  on 
the  bare  hill-top,  are  perched  blocks  of  gray  granite,  keeping 
watch  over  Strathspey  and  Loch  Laggan.  At  their  level,  and 
600  feet  lower,  the  high  ridge  north  of  Loch  Ericht  would 
be  another  long  island. 

At  Kingusie,  another  groove  with  a  col  only  800  feet  high, 
according  to  late  measurements,  runs  S.W.  to  Fort-William, 
down  Glen  Spean.  The  N.E.  corner  of  the  island  beyond 
the  fault,  and  opposite  to  Laggan  Inn,  is  a  gray  granite,  but 
not  the  granite  of  the  boulders.  The  tops  are  bare  and 
weathered,  have  the  usual  rounded  form,  but  retain  no  small 
marks.  There  are  many  perched  blocks  of  compact  gray 
granite  on  the  highest  points,  about  2000  feet  above  the  sea. 
According  to  these  marks  the  famous  "  parallel  roads "  were 


NEWPORT  LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND.  127 

under  water  and  rose,  and  if  so  they  do  but  resemble  terraces 
elsewhere.     (See  chaps,  xxii-xxvii.,  etc.) 

While  basking  in  the  sun  in  the  lee  of  one  of  these  stones, 
far  away  from  any  visible  sign  of  man,  how  strange  it  is  to 
hear  the  yell  of  a  steam-engine,  and  then  to  watch  a  streak 
skimming  like  a  silver  eel,  or  the  mythical  white  dragon, 
through  this  wide  strath,  where  an  icy  sea  has  ebbed  and 
flowed.  It  is  no  wonder  that  natives  stare  agape,  and 
that  sheep  scamper  for  their  lives,  when  this  fiery  steam- 
dragon  comes  yelling  and  roaring  through  deer-forests  where 
lurking  stalkers  used  to  speak  in  whispers. 

Strathspey  has  seen  many  changes  since  it  was  hollowed 
out  of  the  rock. 

And  this  is  the  popular  account  of  the  matter  got  from  a 
countryman  of  Hugh  Miller,  who  was  also  a  fellow  craftsman 
of  the  Scotch  geologist : — 

"Where  do  you  get  that  granite?" 

"  Oo,  they  fand  a  wheen  o'  t  lyin'  i'  the  grund,  eneuch  to 
build  a  hail  toon." 

"  Is  there  a  quarry  ?" 

" Na,  there's  nae  quarry  onyway  here,  jeest  muckle  stanes." 

"  What  kind  of  rock  is  there  here  ?" 

"  Jeest  a  bastard  kind  o'  a  stane." 

"  Well,  but  where  did  the  granite  stones  come  from  ?" 

"  Hoots,  they  just  grew  whar  they  lie." 

Chip,  chip,  chip,  and  a  look  of  puzzlement. 

With  a  rising  land  and  a  rising  temperature,  with  glaciers 
shrinking  and  melting  in  these  Highland  glens,  moraine  after 
moraine  would  be  dropped  in  Strathspey,  for  the  river,  the 
road  and  the  railway  engineer  to  dig  through.  The  last  stone 
would  be  stranded  high  up  on  some  lofty  hill-side.  In  fact, 
the  Spey  winds  through  a  flat  plain  of  rounded  stones,  and  the 


128  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

railway  cuts  through  piles  which  seem  to  be  lateral  moraines 
re-arranged  by  water,  while  perched  blocks  are  stranded  high 
up  on  hill-sides  which  bound  this  large  groove. 

When  this  district  was  the  birthplace  of  glaciers,  it  gave 
rise  to  those  which  flowed  from  Driom  Uachdar  into  Glen 
Truim,  and  to  six  which  flowed  from  Cairngorm  and  Beinn- 
na-Muic-Duibhe,  along  the  valleys  of  the  Dee,  Don,  Doveran, 
Avon,  Spey,  and  Tummel ;  and  each  of  these  must  have  left 
tracks,  because  in  Glen  Truim  and  Strathspey  they  are  con- 
spicuous.* 

Frothy  spots  of  blood  on  heather,  water  oozing  into  the 
footprints  of  a  deer,  do  not  point  out  the  track  of  a  wounded 
stag  more  surely,  than  moraines  in  Strathspey  map  out  the 
backward  course  of  melting  glaciers.  But  the  low  moraines 
are  all  washed  out  of  shape. 

At  Boat  of  Insh  station,  765  feet,  the  fresh  wound  of  a 
new  railway  cutting  bares  the  flesh  of  the  country  and  its 
worn  bones. 

At  the  fork  of  two  glens,  glacial  rubbish,  sand,  gravel,  and 
great  boulders,  are  piled  as  moraines  are  piled  in  beds  and 
layers,  which  dip  and  curve  all  ways,  and  rest  upon  each 
other  where  they  were  washed  off  the  glacier  or  iceberg. 
Beneath  these  rubbish-heaps  are  ground  rocks,  and  behind 
the  old  moraine  a  shallow  loch  nestles  in  a  hollow. 

At  Avicmore,  692  feet  (700  by  observation),  the  drift  is 
flat  and  terraced,  as  it  is  elsewhere,  at  this  level.  When  the 
moraine  was  whole  there  was  a  larger  lake  behind  the  dam, 
in  the  flat  country  which  fills  the  glen  higher  up. 

The  grand  hills  whence  this  drift  may  have  come  tower  up- 

*  Glacial  phenomena  about  Balmoral  have  been  described  by  an  able  local 
geologist.  They  seem  to  prove  the  existence  of  land-glaciers  on  the  side  of 
Strathmore,  etc. 


NEWPORT  LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND.  129 

wards  to  the  mist,  with  sun  and  shower,  light  and  shade,  and 
glorious  colours  of  purple  and  gold,  playing  on  their  furrowed 
sides.  The  works  of  ice  in  the  plain  are  now  arrayed  in 
forests  of  yellow  birch  and  dark-green  pine  ;  but  whoever 
has  seen  ice  at  work  must  know  these  tool-marks  and  these 
chips.  On  an  autumn  day,  a  single  snow-patch  gleaming 
through  a  cloud  is  enough  to  call  up  a  vision  of  the  Alps, 
the  Folge  Fond,  or  the  great  ice-floods  which  hem  in  Sprengi- 
sandr  in  Iceland.  But  the  sea-level  of  the  mental  landscape 
rises  on  the  hill  flanks. 

At  Grantown,  731  feet  (800  feet  up  on  the  hill-side,  by 
observation),  the  new  line  leaves  Strathspey  and  crosses  a 
ridge  1000  feet  high  to  the  Moray  Firth. 

It  cuts. through  hills  of  glacial  drift  which  rest  on  con- 
torted ice-ground  slates,  and  other  rocks.  Woods  glowing 
with  rich  autumnal  tints;  purple  heather,  yellow  corn,  and 
blue  hills,  far  away  beyond  the  rich  strath ;  the  warm  rosy 
colours  of  a  Scotch  moor  lit  up  by  the  sun — contrast,  strangely 
with  the  cold  gray  desolation  of  the  picture  which  ice-marks 
recal  so  vividly.  And  yet  these  Scotch  landscapes  were  like 
the  hills  of  Iceland,  and  the  weather  and  the  river  Spey  have 
done  little  to  alter  the  land  since  ice  and  sea  left  it  bare  for 
plants  to  clothe. 

In  descending  from  the  ridge  to  the  sea-level,  the  whole 
character  of  this  country  changes.  Glens  and  wide  straths, 
moraines,  and  other  marks  of  river-glaciers,  are  left  in  the 
Spey-groove. 

The  train  approaches  a  north-eastern  corner,  and  it  is  like 
others  in  the  British  Isles.  Seen  from  Wyvis,  it  has  a  regular 
slope  "*  V  If  land-ice  grew  here,  it  slid  north-west  into 
the  Moray  Firth,  in  a  wide  sheet  like  that  which  covers  parts 
of  Iceland  at  Ball  Jdkull,  Lang  Jokull,  etc.  (chap,  xxv.)  The 

VOL.  II.  K 


130  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

whole  of  the  Morayshire  side  of  the  Firth  is  one  ridge 
from  1000  feet  to  the  sea-level,  from  the  Spey  to  Inverness. 
Above  that  level,  a  few  A  hills — such  as  the  Knock  of  Brae- 
Moray — rise,  but  they  are  exceptions.  The  soil  is  still  drift  ; 
but  the  coating  of  loose  debris  is  more  evenly  and  thinly 
spread,  and  more  regularly  packed.  Layers  of  sand  and 
gravel  are  sorted,  sized,  and  generally  laid  flat  one  upon  the 
other  above  the  sandstone  rock.  The  Findhorn,  and  other 
rivers,  have  cut  deep  gashes  in  this  rock.  If  land-ice  had 
moved  in  the  same  direction,  it.  would  surely  have  dug 
grooves  - < . 

At  Rafford  station,  169  feet  above  the  sea,  drift  is 
arranged  in  knolls  and  mounds,  and  layers  dip  many  ways. 
Most  of  the  stones  look  washed  and  rolled,  and  large  boulders 
are  rare.  At  Forres,  the  flat  plains  of  Morayshire  are  only 
26  feet  above  the  sea ;  and  thence  to  Inverness  the  whole 
of  the  low  country  bears  marks  of  water-work.  But  it 
was  not  water-work  done  by  shallow  unfrozen  seas,  for  the 
beach  at  Inverness  and  the  shores  of  Scotland  are  not  arranged 
like  the  hummocky  drift-hills  and  points  which  rise  up  in  this 
low  tract.  Drift-ice  might  do  work  of  the  kind ;  and  plenty  of 
glaciers  to  make  icebergs  grew  between  Perth  and  Inverness 
in  central  Scotland,  and  on  the  opposite  coast  in  Norway. 

The  evidence  in  this  tract  seems  to  prove  that  central 
Scotland  was  crossed  by  narrow  sounds,  through  which  ice- 
floats  drifted,  as  they  now  do  through  the  straits  of  Belleisle  ; 
that  the  land  rose  gradually  ;  and  that  glaciers  on  shore  have 
not  been  lower  than  the  two  moraines  near  Dalwhinny,  since 
the  sea  packed  terraces  about  the  end  of  these  moraines. 

If  after  the  land  had  risen  to  this  level  (about  1400  feet), 
central  Scotland  was  an  island  with  a  sound  passing  west- 
ward at  Stirling,  another  sound  passed  westward  at  Inverness, 


NEWPORT  LINE — CENTRAL  SCOTLAND. 


131 


and  ice-grooves  at  1100  feet  near  Deny  Veagh  in  Ireland 
pointed  in  this  direction,  as  shown  above  (p.  57). 

The  Galway  and  Westport  curves  have  both  been  carried 
over  Scotland  ;  the  spooring  must  go  northwards  again,  if  the 
Glenveajjh  marks  are  to  be  found  on  the  Scotch  mainland. 


INVERNESS  AND  PERTH  JUNCTION  RAILWAY. 

LIST  of  STATIONS,  showing  their  respective  Heights  above  the  Sea-level, 
High-water  Mark,  ordinary  Spring-tides  (rising  14  feet  at  Inver- 
ness.) 


Forres 

Rafford     . 

Dunphail 

Foot  of  Knock  of  Brae  Moray, 

about  . 
Grantown 
Broomhill 
Boat  of  Garten 
Aviemore 
Boat  of  Insh 
Kin«nissie 


The  heights  estimated  by  the  pocket  aneroid  barometer 
agreed  pretty  well  with  these  heights,  which  were  kindly  fur- 
nished by  a  director  of  this  railway. 


Feet. 

Feet. 

26 

Newtonmore 

764 

169 
614 

Dalwhinny 
Summit  of  Drumochter 

1169 
1480 

Loch  Garry 

1330 

000 

Struan 

615 

731 

Blair  Athole 

421 

656 
706 

Pitlochry 
Ballinluig 

334 

202 

692 
765 
740 

Guay 
Dalguise 
Dunkeld                .       212  ft. 

186 
179 

4  in. 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  10 — BRITISH  ISLES  9 — SCOTLAND  6 — DERRY 
VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL  AND  NORTHERN  SCOTLAND. 

INVERNESS  stands  at  the  north-eastern  end  of  a  large  groove 
which  crosses  Scotland.  At  100  feet  level  the  glen  which  now 
holds  the  Caledonian  Canal  would  be  a  sea-strait  ;  at  the 
500  feet  level  it  would  be  a  deep  narrow  strait  through  which 
a  rapid  tide  would  flow,  like  that  which  now  boils  and  seethes 
through  Kyle  Akin,  between  Skye  and  the  mainland.  North 
of  Inverness  the  rocks  are  a  coarse  coDglomerate.  Up  to  400 
feet  great  banks  of  sand,  shingle,  and  large  stones,  are  con- 
fusedly piled  on  the  hill-side.  This  drift  contains  stones  of 
many  soils  and  sizes,  granites  of  various  colours,  and  hard 
igneous  rocks,  mica-schists,  and  various  kinds  of  quartz. 
They  have  the  shape  of  stones  in  glacial  drift,  but  the  surface 
of  waterworn  stones.  They  look  like  stones  on  the  beach 
near  Galway,  which  have  been  rolled  by  sea-waves  after 
falling  out  of  the  clay  bank,  in  which  similar  stones  retain 
their  grooved  surface  (p.  20).  This  seems  to  be  water-worn 
glacial  drift  at  the  end  of  the  old  strait.  The  plain  below  is 
of  like  materials,  spread  out  and  laid  flat,  and  a  conical  pile 
of  loose  stones  is  left  in  the  middle  like  the  mounds  which 
workmen  leave  in  a  cutting  to  mark  the  original  level  of  the 
surface  from  which  they  have  dug.  At  the  head  of  many  a 
Scotch  glen,  at  about  600  or  700  feet,  a  like  plain  of  rolled 
drift  remains.  If  rapid  tides  ebbed  and  flowed  over  Inver- 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    133 

ness,  they  would  dig  away  Tom-na-Shirich,  and  the  rest  of  the 
drift  ;  but  a  watershed  100  feet  high  stops  the  tide,  and  the 
Ness  can  do  little  in  such  heavy  ground.  Wherever  they 
came  from,  these  mounds  of  large  stones  were  carried,  and 
they  are  piled  upon  ice-ground  rocks.  The  hills  have  the 
usual  shape,  and  enormous  fragments  of  conglomerate  have 
been  moved  and  dropped  where  they  stand,  amongst  heather 
and  trees,  800  feet  up,  clear  of  the  terraces  of  rolled  drift. 

In  Geikie's  map,  lines  are  marked  about  the  watershed  of 
this  groove.  The  whole  country  is  glaciated  ;  and  it  is  mani- 
fest that  ice  can  only  have  moved  N.E.  or  S.W.  along  this  deep 
groove,  whether  it  was  land-ice  or  sea-ice. 

The  next  great  groove  which  crosses  Scotland  from  N.E. 
to  S.W.,  runs  from  the  Dornoch  Firth  to  Loch  Carron. 

The  intervening  district  is  a  large  block  of  high  land, 
deeply  furrowed  by  glens.  On  the  eastern  side,  the  northern 
shore  of  the  Moray  Firth  is  low  land  in  the  Black  Isle  of 
Cromarty,  and  this  district  is  thickly  strewed  with  drift.  It 
seems  to  be  glacial  and  waterworn. 

Beyond  the  Black  Isle  is  the  Firth  of  Cromarty,  which 
ends  at  Dingwall,  below  Beinn  Uaish  or  Wyvis,  which  is  a 
great  block  of  high  ground,  with  a  rolling  plateau  on  the  top. 

Beyond  the  Cromarty  Firth  is  a  long  low  tract  of  drift, 
which  ends  eastward  at  Tarbert  Ness,  and  beyond  that  is  the 
Firth  of  Dornoch. 

Lines  of  existing  and  projected  railways  mark  the  divi- 
sion between  hill  and  plain  from  Inverness  to  Dornoch. 

From  the  Firth  of  Forth  to  Duncansby  Head,  the  map  of 
the  eastern  coast  is  like  the  teeth  of  a  blunted  saw.  The 
lines  run  alternately  westward  and  south-westward,  and  hills 
inland  correspond  to  the  coast-line.  Railway  lines,  in  like 
manner,  run  westward  and  south-westward  in  pursuit  of  low 


134  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

levels.  Eoads  which  follow  low  levels  cross  this  district  in 
similar  directions.  Beyond  Dornoch,  the  low  coast-land  be- 
comes a  narrow  strip  in  Sutherland,  which  conies  to  an  end 
at  the  Ord  of  Caithness,  where  the  sea  washes  a  line  of 
eastern  cliffs. 

The  hills  now  trend  northward  to  Thurso,  and  westward  to 
Cape  Wrath  ;  and  Caithness  is  flat  land,  with  a  soil  of  drift. 

If  the  north-eastern  corners  of  Caithness  and  Berwickshire 
were  not  blunted  teeth,  St.  Abb's  Head,  Kinnaird's  Head,  and 
Duncansby  Head,  would  be  points  of  land  of  the  same  pattern 
as  Tarbert  Ness  and  Fife  Ness.  The  whole  east  coast  is  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  same  pattern  on  different  scales,  and  it  is  repeated 
in  miniature  in  every  firth  where  the  tides  are  wearing  the 
coast.  It  seems  fair  to  conclude  that  the  shape  of  the  Scotcli 
coast  results  from  the  wearing  action  of  water-streams,  which 
flow  on  a  fixed  principle,  and  in  certain  directions.  Here 
the  points  aim  N.E.  and  the  bays  S.W. 

In  the  northern  division  there  are  glens  to  correspond  to 
notches  in  the  coast-line,  and  glens  which  are  prolongations 
of  bays.  Deep  grooves  run  up  westward  at  Glengarry,  Glen- 
moriston,  Strathaffaric,  Lovat's  Forest,  and  Strath  Conan ;  and, 
after  passing  the  watershed,  glens  run  westward  down  to  the 
coast  about  the  Sound  of  Sleat,  in  Knoydart,  Glenelg,  Loch 
Alsh,  Kintail,  etc. 

Further  north  glens  in  Sutherland  turn  north-westwards, 
and  on  the  eastern  coast  they  curve  north.  ^No  map  of 
Scotland  gives  the  true  shape  of  these  hills  and  glens.  Black's 
road  and  railway  map  gives  some  of  the  main  features,  and  it 
shows  that  the  main  hollows  and  passes  which  cross  Scotland 
all  converge  upon  the  N*es  of  Norway  and  the  Skagerrak. 
Any  geological  map  will  show  that  these  forms  of  denudation 
bear  no  reference  to  the  geology  of  Scotland.  The  grooves 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    135 

have  nothing  to  do  with  dip,  or  strike,  or  subterranean  dis- 
turbance. Most  of  these  Scotch  glens  are  tool-marks  of  some 
denuding  engine,  and  the  study  of  their  shape  is  a  part  of 
"  superficial  geology."  Conspicuous  ice-marks  are  in  all  these 
glens,  and  in  all  their  branches,  so  far  as  they  are  known  to 
the  writer.  They  all  seem  to  have  held  river-glaciers  of  large 
size,  which  followed  the  present  run  of  water  from  the  water- 
shed to  the  low  land. 

With  the  sea  at  the  1000  feet  level,  this  tract  would  be 
crossed  by  sounds,  and  the  main  coast-lines  would  generally 
trend  N.E.,  E.  byN.,  or  thereby,  as  coasts  and  sounds  do  in 
the  Hebrides,  at  the  present  level  of  sea  and  land. 

At  1500  feet  there  would  be  ample  room  for  the  tide  to 
flow  over  the  low  land  of  Sleat,  through  Loch  Can-on  and 
Strath  Bran  north  of  Wyvis,  and  so  along  the  Sutherland 
coast  to  the  Ord  of  Caithness.  The  ebb  and  a  north-eastern 
arctic  current  might  flow  the  other  way  along  the  same  path 
as  the  flood-tide  and  the  Gulf  Stream  now  flow  together  out- 
side of  the  Hebrides  northwards,  and  the  marks  should  remain. 

The  most  likely  place  for  sea-marks  is  on  the  watershed 
in  passes.  Drift  accumulates  in  shallow  sounds  ;  and  low 
tracts  in  the  Scotch  and  Scandinavian  islands,  which  join 
high  hills,  are  generally  composed  of  terraced  drift  with  recent 
shells.  If  the  backbone  of  Scotland  rose  from  the  sea,  the 
watershed  of  each  glen  would  be  first  a  skajlow  sound,  and 
then  a  "  tarbert,"  with  raised  sea-margins.  But  if  the  rise 
were  gradual  and  general  in  Scotland,  passes  would  dry  in 
their  order  of  height ;  so  the  highest  terrace  is  the  oldest. 

The  col  at  Dalwhinny  is  at  1480  feet ;  so,  on  this  sup- 
position, it  was  dry  when  the  Forest  of  Gairloch  was  an  island, 
and  Strath  Bran  a  strait  850  feet  deep  about  Achnasheen. 
There  the  barometer  marks  630  feet  at  an  ancient  sea-margin. 


136  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

When  there  was  a  tarbert  at  the  head  of  Glen  Dochart,  where 
the  barometer  marks  800,  there  was  still  a  strait  680  feet 
deep  at  Glengarry  on  the  Caledonian  Canal,  and  there  was 
deep  water  above  Lanarkshire,  where  sea-shells  have  been 
found  in  drift  at  Airdrie.  When  the  sea  was  at  "  Drumoch- 
ter,"  the  Parallel  Roads  of  Glenroy,  about  which  so  much  has 
been  written,  were  sunk  324  feet ;  for  the  highest  of  that 
series  is  only  1156  feet  above  the  sea,* 

The  ancient  sea-margins  of  the  British  Isles  have  been 
examined  and  described  by  Robert  Chambers,  and  they  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  last  rise  was  general,  for  ten-aces  of 
shingle  are  found  at  corresponding  levels  at  many  distant 
points  in  Britain.  A  terrace  of  stratified  gravel  is  a  sea-mark 
which  could  not  resist  a  land-glacier  ;  it  would  be  swept 
away  by  the  force  which  sweeps  moraines  before  it,  and  grinds 
solid  rocks  ;  it  is  therefore  a  kind  of  thermometer,  and  it  is 
easily  distinguished  from  glacial  drift. 

Where  a  terrace  is  found  resting  on  glacial  drift,  beneath 
which  rocks  are  marked  by  ice,  there  is  a  series  of  records. 

1.  Ice  ground  the  solid  rocks  and  made  the  marks. 

2.  Ice  dropped  the  great  stones  which  floated  on  it,  and 

which  now  rest  upon  the  marked  rock. 

3.  Water  packed  loose  gravel  in  horizontal  layers  upon 

the  moraines  or  drift. 

4.  Streams  cut  through  the  terraces,  washed  the  gravel, 

and  arranged  the  mud  in  hollows  lower  down. 

These  records,  then,  give  relative  dates  for  the  last  glacial 
period,  and  elevation  of  land. 

There  has  been  no  land-glacier  at  the  place  where  a  ter- 
race of  stratified  gravel  remains,  since  the  terrace  was  arranged 

o 

by  water  upon  glacial  drift.     There  has  been  no  glacier  since 

*  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  253. 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    137 

the  moraine  was  stranded  in  the  gleii.  So  the  highest  terrace 
of  sea-gravel  marks  a  sea-level  at  which  the  land  stood  after 
glaciers  had  disappeared,  and  the  highest  Scotch  terraces  of 
washed  drift  known  to  the  writer  are  at  Dal  whinny,  1169 
feet,  in  Loch  Ericht  (?),  and  near  the  summit  level  of  the  new 
railway,  which  is  at  1480  feet. 

Assuming  that  this  argument  is  well  founded,  the  record 
in  Strath  Bran  proves  that  the  water-level  has  been  at  700 
feet  since  the  Scotch  hills  were  clear  of  ice,  and  that  there 
have  been  no  large  glaciers  since  that  time  in  Strath  Bran. 

For  the  same  reason,  because  the  rubbish  at  Dalwhinny 
is  terraced,  there  has  been  110  land-glacier  in  Glen  Truim 
since  the  water-level  was  at  1400  feet ;  but  there  were  land- 
glaciers  as  low  as  1600  feet  near  Dalwhinny,  and  their 
moraines  have  not  been  washed  out  of  shape. 

But  if  so,  and  if  the  rise  of  land  was  general  in  Western 
Europe,  then  the  end  of  the  glacial  period  coincided  in  level 
with  the  rise  of  the  low  isthmus  which  now  joins  Scandinavia 
to  Russia,  1400  feet,  and  the  last  cold  period  in  Scotland 
coincided  with  the  level  which  allowed  the  Arctic  Current  to 
flow  down  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  (see  map,  vol.  i.  p.  232). 

Horizontal  ice-marks  on  hill-sides  and  tops,  and  on  water- 
sheds in  passes  above  1400  feet,  were  probably  made  by 
floating  ice,  at  a  time  when  only  the  highest  Scotch  hills 
were  above  the  sea  and  smothered  in  ice. 

The  nature  and  direction  of  ice-marks  at  high  levels  is  the 
foundation  on  which  this  theory  rests  ;  and  the  shape  of  hills 
of  drift  is  another  stone  on  the  cairn. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  Scotch  lochs  is  Loch 
Maree  in  Wester  Eoss.  It  lies  in  a  deep  trench  which  runs 
north-west  along  the  foot  of  a  block  of  high  land,  which 
makes  the  Forest  of  Gairloch.  To  the  north  are  lofty  hills — 


138  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

Slioch,  Beiun-araidh-cliar,  and  others — which  rise  to  nearly 
4000  feet.  In  the  loch  are  rocky  islands  on  which  natural 
woods  of  Scotch  fir  still  survive  ;  and  in  deep  glens  and 
corries  which  furrow  the  hill-sides,  gaunt  trees  toss  their 
twisted  arms,  like  the  last  giants  of  a  departed  race.  On  a 
still  morning  when  the  eastern  sun  peeps  over  the  hills  and 
under  the  mist,  it  sends  a  flood  of  yellow  light  and  heat 
streaming  westwards,  into  the  level  glen  at  the  head  of  Loch 
Maree.  Blue  peat-reek,  which  before  sunrise  followed  the 
run  of  the  stream  down  every  hollow,  turns  to  a  golden  haze, 
and  it  eddies  and  curls  upwards  as  the  air  answers  the  sun- 
power  and  rises.  East  and  west,  north  and  south,  the 
smoke  of  scattered  farms  sweeps  towards  the  spot  where  the 
light  falls  and  warms  the  ground,  and  the  chill  breath  of  the 
hills  comes  down  the  hill-sides  like  a  stream  of  cold  water. 
Heat  and  cold  stir  the  air,  and  the  smoke  and  the  sunlight 
show  the  currents  which  a  ray  of  sunlight  sets  in  motion.  On 
such  a  morning  the  hills  are  like  great  cones  of  lapis 
lazzuli  set  in  glens  of  gold  and  lakes  of  quicksilver.  As 
the  day  wears  on  the  mists  rise  up  and  creep  slowly  round 
the  highest  peaks,  till  they  rise  upwards  and  float  away  in 
shining  clouds.  Then  the  blue  cones  change  ;  bare  white 
quartz  glitters  in  the  sun  like  snow,  and  Ben  Eith  looks  as 
if  it  were  "  ice"  in  truth. 

To  a  height  of  about  2000  feet  these  hills  are  ice-ground. 
It  needs  but  a  glance  to  know  the  shape,  but  here  all  marks 
are  clear  and  distinct. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  glen,  at  Kinloch  Ewe,  at  200  feet, 
ice-grooves  run  towards  Loch  Maree,  N.  30°  W.  These  might 
be  marks  of  a  local  glacier. 

Thence,  for  700  feet  up  the  western  side,  the  rock  is  broken. 
At  900  feet  glaciation  begins.  At  1100  feet,  at  the  edge  of 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    139 

the  glen  on  the  west  side,  a  large  hollow  groove  three  feet 
wide,  and  as  smooth  as  polished  marble,  contains  striae  of  all 
sizes,  down  to  fine  sand-marks.  They  point  a  little  more  to  the 
west,  N.  40°  W.  At  a  higher  level  than  the  watershed  of  the 
glen,  which  is  also  the  watershed  of  Scotland,  and  800  feet 
high  at  Glen  Dochart,  a  tract  begins  which  is  not  easily 
matched.  The  rock  is  a  very  hard  stratified  quartz — gray 
yellow,  white,  and  pale  pink — and  for  several  square  miles  the 
rock  is  bare.  It  is  weathered  in  some  places,  and  there  fossils 
rise  up  half  an  inch  from  the  surface.  The  stone  looks  like  a 
sugared  cake,  with  chips  of  almonds  stuck  into  it.  Other 
beds  are  weathered  into  a  pattern  of  round  flat  lumps,  like 
small  ivory  shirt-buttons  laid  close  ;  others  have  larger  shapes ; 
concentric  rings  an  inch  across,  which  wear  away,  leaving 
concentric  ridges  and  hollows.  But  the  greater  part  of  this 
rock  is  either  freshly  broken,  or  ground  perfectly  smooth.  At 
1350  feet,  on  the  top  of  a  ridge  high  enough  to  clear  most  of 
the  cols  which  join  Scotch  hills,  and  close  to  the  foot  of  Beinn- 
a-Ghuis,  the  marks  are  perfect.  They  point  N.  20°  W. 

In  that  direction  they  aim  over  lower  hills  about  the  river 
Ewe,  twenty  miles  away,  and  over  the  sea  outside  of  the  Butt 
of  Lewes ;  in  the  other  direction  they  aim  over  the  head  of  Glen 
Dochart  (800  feet),  over  Strath  Bran  at  a  big  hill  supposed  to 
be  Sgur-a-Mhuliu,  but  found  to  be  further  south.  There  is  no 
apparent  source  for  land-ice  within  reach  of  this  spot,  except 
the  high  peaks  beside  it,  and  the  grooves  aim  past  these 
hills,  which  are  some  of  the  highest  in  Scotland. 

They  were  not  made  by  land-ice. 

At  the  same  level,  1350  feet,  a  mile  nearer  to  the  foot  of 
these  hills,  and  opposite  to  a  glen  which  seems  made  to  be 
the  home  of  a  glacier,  the  grooves  point  N.  56°  W.,  and  here 
is  a  tiny  moraine,  still  perfect  in  shape.  It  is  bare  and  looks 


140  BALTIC  CURKENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

like  piles  of  broken  white  sugar  poured  out  across  the  glen. 
Here,  near  the  level  of  moraines  near  Dalwhinny,  a  similar 
form  tells  the  same  tale.  The  sea  has  not  been  here  since  the 
glaciers  melted.  At  1800  feet,  close  to  the  foot  of  Beinn-a- 
Ghuis,  the  marks  point  N.  25°  W.  The  sea  must  have  been 
here  when  the  marks  were  made.  So  the  glacial  period  seems 
to  have  ended  when  the  sea  was  at  the  terminal  moraines 
on  the  side  of  Beiun-a-Ghuis  at  about  1400  feet,  and  on  the 
side  of  Driom  Uachdar  at  about  1400  feet  also. 

At  still  greater  heights  the  rocks  have  the  same  ground 
shape  (see  cut,  p.  17,  and  map,  vol.  i.  p.  496),  but  time  would 
not  admit  of  a  closer  examination. 

It  seems  to  be  proved  by  marks  on  hills  on  one  side  of 
Loch  Maree,  that  ice  crossed  Scotland  from  the  east  to  the 
west  at  a  level  of  more  than  2000  feet.  Above  that  line  the 
Gairloch  hills  seem  to  be  conical  piles  of  broken  quartz  talus 
leaning  against  jagged  cliffs  and  peaks.  The  shape  is  ' — -  up 
to  one  level,  A  above  it. 

If  a  stream  came  from  the  eastward  and  split  on  these 
high  hills  it  would  sweep  off  north-westwards,  as  ice  did 
according  to  these  marks. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  direction.  For  100  yards 
in  length,  and  20  in  breadth,  one  great  waving  sheet  of  white 
quartz  is  smoothed  and  grooved  on  one  side,  and  fractured 
on  the  other,  and  for  several  miles  rock-surfaces  of  the  same 
kind  abound.  A  few  blocks  of  dark  trap  are  scattered  about 
at  this  level,  but  on  this  exposed  shoulder  there  are  few 
perched  blocks.  Looking  inland  from  the  Gairloch  Forest,  an 
open  gap  in  the  hills  about  Loch  Fannich  bears  E.  by  N.,  and 
there  is  nothing  in  that  direction  to  stop  ice  floating  at  1800 
feet. 

Looking  through  that  gap  the  first  land  of  equal  height  is 


DERBY  VEAGH  CURVE— CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    HI 

in  Scandinavia ;  so  this  path,  too,  is  clear,  for  in  Scandinavia 
there  are  grooves  on  the  watershed  which  point  N.E.  at  about 
2000  feet  above  the  sea  near  Trondhjem  (see  vol.  i.  pp.  103, 
234). 

The  next  point  on  this  line  is  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
glen,  where  a  ridge  2100  feet  high  is  cut  off  from  all  neigh- 
bouring hills  by  deep  glens.  It  is  cut  off  from  Slioch  by 
Glen  Bianastle  ;  from  the  Forest  by  Kinloch  Ewe  ;  and  a 
wide  deep  strath  divides  it  from  Ben  Dearg  to  the  north- 
east. It  is  called  Beinn  Mhonaidh. 

If  a  stream  at  this  level  came  from  the  east  by  way  of 
Fannich  it  would  split  on  the  side  of  Slioch,  which  is  about 
4000  feet  high,  and  run  foul  of  the  place  last  described. 

In  the  bottom  of  the  glen  at  Kinloch  Ewe  drift  is  arranged 
in  flat  terraces  up  to  the  300  feet  level.  The  river  is  digging 
into  these  banks,  and  it  is  building  a  new  set  in  the  loch 
three  miles  down.  This  is  stratified  water-work  done  since 
the  ice  disappeared.  But  the  gravel  banks  rest  in  an  ice- 
groove,  for  the  marks  show  as  soon  as  the  drift  is  cleared. 

At  the  1000  feet  level  the  hill-top  is  above  the  level  of  the 
col  at  Glen  Dochart,  which  would  make  Strath  Bran  and 
Loch  Fanuich  sea-straits. 

At  1200  feet  the  groove  which  holds  Loch  Maree  is  seen 
to  be  a  short  transverse  rut,  for  the  big  groove  which  runs 
from  sea  to  sea  E.  by  N.  is  open  between  Beinn  More  and 
Fin  Beinn.  A  few  large  perched  blocks  of  gneiss  are  scat- 
tered on  the  tops  at  this  level,  and  the  wide  hollow  and  the 
shape  of  hills  and  knolls  in  it,  all  indicate  movement  from 
the  east  towards  the  high  hills  beyond  Loch  Maree. 

At  1200  feet  some  weathered  grooves  on  gneiss  point 
E.  by  K  The  rocks  are  much  weathered,  but  their  shape  is 
clear.  At  1620  feet  is  a  perched  block  9x9x9  feet,  and 


142  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

many  smaller  angular  blocks  of  veined  gneiss  and  granite 
are  balanced  upon  rounded  knobs  of  gneiss  near  a  small 
tarn. 

At  2150,  on  the  top  of  the  ridge,  are  perched  blocks  and 
grooves  pointing  N.  65°  E.  These  are  almost  obliterated,  but 
they  can  be  made  out. 

From  this  point  the  opposite  quartz  hills  are  well  seen. 

Unless  central  Scotland  was  one  vast  snow-dome,  there  is 
no  possible  source  from  which  land-ice  could  reach  this  spot. 
Deep  glens  surround  Beinn  Mhonaidh,  and  the  shortest  way 
to  sea  from  the  hills  at  which  the  grooves  point  is  behind 
Slioch,  three  or  four  miles  away,  and  1500  feet  lower  down, 
where  the  water  runs.  At  the  same  level,  and  a  little  higher, 
the  very  same  kind  of  rock-surface,  and  the  very  same 
pattern  of  smooth  hills,  are  seen  in  every  direction ;  but  a 
little  above  this  2000  feet  level,  hill-tops  are  jagged,  conical, 
weathered,  fantastic  peaks,  fit  rivals  to  the  Lofoten  hills,  which 
have  been  likened  to  the  teeth  of  a  shark. 

On  an  autumn  day  when  the  air  is  clear,  a  grander  scene 
is  not  to  be  found  in  all  Scotland. 

When  yellow  lights,  purple  shadows,  and  showers  are 
chasing  each  other  from  hill  to  hill,  rainbows  and  windgalls, 
bright  clouds  and  blue  sky,  make  this  wild  tract  a  scene  of 
wondrous  beauty.  It  is  a  picture  to  look  at  and  remember. 
But  it  is  easy  to  map  out  the  glaciers  from  other  pictures 
stored  in  the  same  memory.  Through  a  gap  in  the  hills  is 
the  way  to  Bergen.  There  stand  peaks  of  the  pattern  of 
Bodals  Kaabe  and  Areskutan  ;  below  is  a  long  rounded  swell 
like  the  Norwegian  Fjeld.  Deep  down  from  the  rift  of  Glen 
Bianastle  comes  the  distant  hushing  sound  of  a  mountain- 
torrent.  It  is  in  the  path  which  ice  must  have  followed  if 
it  came  from  Scandinavia  through  Glen  Fannich,  and  ran 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    143 

foul  of  Sliock  It  is  easy  to  fill  in  the  whites  in  this  picture, 
and  it  is  easy  to  test  its  truth  when  finished. 

At  the  head  of  Glen  Bianastle,  at  1450  feet,  the  rock  is 
the  same  quartz  which  makes  the  opposite  hill-tops  in  the 
forest.  The  beds  dip  the  same  way,  and  some  are  weathered 
and  some  polished.  At  the  very  edge  of  the  cliff  a  set  of 
perfect  grooves  point  from  N.  65°  E.  to  S.  65°  W.  over  Locli 
Maree. 

At  the  same  level,  thirty  yards  off,  similar  grooves  on  gray 
quartz  point  N.  60°  E. 

In  the  glen  below  the  cliff  at  1200  feet  the  marks  are 
quite  perfect.  Long  white  ridges  and  grooves  are  "  for  all 
the  world  like  a  marble  chimney-piece,"  as  an  astonished 
native  of  Dingwall  remarked.  Strife  point  from  N.  50°  E. 

From  this  point  down  to  Loch  Maree  are  similar  marks 
wherever  the  bed  of  quartz  is  the  surface. 

But  at  the  bottom  of  the  glen  a  bed  of  sandstone  is 
smoothed  by  water  in  the  burns,  and  on  the  side  of  Slioch, 
where  strata  nearly  vertical  meet  the  edge  of  the  sandstone 
beds,  the  hill-side  is  deeply  furrowed  by  rain.  These  nits 
aim  at  the  peak,  the  others  run  horizontally  past  the  hill. 

The  bum  has  cut  a  rock-trench  twenty  or  thirty  feet  deep, 
but  though  all  this  weathering  has  taken  place,  many  quartz 
surfaces  have  not  lost  the  thickness  of  a  sheet  of  paper  since 
ice  left  them  bare. 

At  700  feet  is  a  bed  of  fiat  drift  apparently  arranged  by 
water  amongst  old  moraine  stuff. 

At  *700  feet  the  rock  is  bare,  and  marks  point  at  right 
angles  to  the  shore  of  the  lake.  Here  a  quartz  cliff  about 
1000  feet  high  is  ice-ground  to  the  top,  and  the  opposite  hills, 
ground  to  the  level  of  2000  feet,  tower  up  beyond  the  lake. 
At  150  feet  the  shore  of  Loch  Maree  is  a  river-delta  forming 


144  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

on  a  moraine,  which  has  lost  the  characteristic  shape,  and 
the  lake  as  usual  is  said  to  have  no  bottom.  It  is  very  deep 
and  a  true  rock-basin,  for  the  Ewe  escapes  through  a  channel 
of  rock. 

So,  looking  on  these  great  hills  as  stones  in  a  stream,  ice- 
marks  at  the  high  level  indicate  a  current  flowing  through 
sounds,  and  splitting  upon  blocks  of  high  land  as  streams  do 
on  posts  ;  the  floats  must  have  been  ice  of  large  dimensions, 
but  not  necessarily  larger  than  drift-ice,  in  the  same  latitude. 

The  plan  laid  down  at  the  beginning  was  to  follow  ice- 
marks  wherever  they  might  lead.  Marks  on  the  top  of  Beinn 
Mhonaidh  pointed  at  quartz  hills  on  the  opposite  side  of  Loch 
Maree,  and  they  were  followed.  Marks  at  the  head  of  Glen 
Bianastle  led  down  to  the  shore  of  Loch  Maree,  marks  at  the 
bottom  of  the  glen  pointed  down  the  stream  ;  on  the  shoulder 
of  Ben-a-Ghuis,  opposite  to  Beinn  Mhonaidh,  at  about  1800 
feet,  the  arrow  (see  cut,  p.  17),  carried  55  miles,  to  the 
visible  horizon  of  the  highest  spot,  aimed  about  Stornoway  in 
Lewes.  The  ice-lines  were  found  to  wind  about  the  hills,  and 
finally  aim  over  two  blocks  of  isolated  hills  15  or  20  miles  off. 
This  spoor  has  been  followed,  and  it  is  very  plain  on  these 
distant  hills. 

The  Hill  of  Groban,  over  which  the  arrow  passes  in  the 
woodcut,  is  between  the  post-road  to  Gairloch  and  the  shore 
of  Loch  Maree.  The  highest  knob  of  the  central  eminence  in 
the  midst  of  this  group  of  small  hills  is  about  1200  feet  high. 
It  is  all  ice-ground,  but  weathered.  On  the  S.W.  shoulder,  at 
800  feet,  is  a  shelving  rock  of  great  extent  ;  from  which  rub- 
bings were  taken,  first  by  a  gamekeeper  and  afterwards  by  a 
gentleman  who  was  kind  enough  to  follow  the  instructions 
given  at  page  15.  Allowing  20°  for  magnetic  variation,  the 
direction  is  from  S.  83°  E.  at  a  height  of  800  feet. 


DERRY  VEACrll  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.          145 

Thus,  after  a  flight  of  nearly  15  miles,  the  arrow  curves 
westward  48°  (A).  At  a  point  about  350  feet  above  the  sea, 
behind  Flowerdale,  and  near  the  post-road,  marks  have  the 
same  direction.  These  are  in  the  bottom  of  a  hollow,  and 
cross  it  diagonally  from  S.  43°  E.  (B). 

On  the  other  side  of  the  hollow,  in  the  bottom  of  a  wide 
shallow  valley,  which  runs  nearly  north  and  south,  the  marks 
point  from  S.  40°  E.  (F).  They  do  not  aim  at  the  hills. 
These  three  spots,  A  B  F,  are  in  the  middle,  and  to  one  side  of 
the  large  glen,  which  is  split  by  the  Hill  of  Groban,  20  miles 
from  the  watershed  at  Glen  Dochart.  At  the  northern  ex- 
tremity of  the  block,  beside  the  road  which  leads  from  Gair- 
loch  to  Pool  Ewe,  the  marks  point  at  the  sea  from  S.  60°  E. 
(C),  which  is  the  direction  of  the  watershed. 

Further  north,  and  further  from  the  hills,  and  out  of  the 
jaws  of  the  glen,  another  set  of  marks,  perfectly  preserved, 
give  two  cross  directions — from  S.  85°  E.,  and  from  S. 
35°  E. 

Still  further  north,  and  quite  beyond  the  glen,  is  Meall 
Mor,  a  hill  600  or  700  feet  high,  on  the  north  point  of 
Gairloch,  isolated ;  and  near  the  western  coast-line  of  this 
part  of  Scotland,  a  rock  on  the  N.E.  shoulder  is  clearly 
marked,  and  the  rubbing  shows  two  distinct  movements — 
from  S.  85°  K,  and  from  N.  35°  E.  (allowing  20°  for  varia- 
tion) (D). 

Thus  the  arrow  is  carried  over  the  watershed  of  Scotland, 
at  about  2000  feet,  with  the  direction  N.  65°  E.,  which  might 
bring  it  from  Scandinavia  along  the  coast  of  Sutherland.  It 
is  turned  aside  on  the  shoulder  of  Beinn-a-Ghuis,  at  the  same 
level ;  and  is  made  to  glance  northwards  from  S.  25°  E.,  down 
a  wide  and  deep  groove.  Followed  for  more  than  20  miles, 
it  is  found  bending  gradually  southwards,  and  left  aiming 
VOL.  II.  L 


146  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

from  east  to  west  and  from  N.  35°  E.  to  S.  35°  W.  near  a 
coast  where  currents  flow  various  ways,  according  to  the 
state  of  the  tide.  Tides  close  at  hand  do  in  fact  flow  in 
directions  which  correspond  to  marks  upon  this  last  isolated 
hill. 

All  this  seems  to  point  at  floating  glaciers,  grown  in  sea- 
lochs,  and  amongst  small  islands,  moving  in  currents  and 
tides. 

For  a  perpendicular  height  of  nearly  2000  feet,  for  a 
length  of  about  25  miles,  and  a  breadth  of  five  or  six  at 
least,  rocks  are  marked  on  one  plan.  Perpendicular  cliffs, 
the  bottoms  of  grooves,  the  tops  of  ridges,  the  tops  of  hills,  all 
are  marked  alike  :  all  the  smooth  sides  are  towards  the  water- 
shed, all  the  broken  faces  towards  the  sea.  All  the  grooves 
have  a  manifest  relation  to  each  other  till  they  get  clear  of  the 
glen.  It  seems  plain  that  this  big  groove  was  full  of  heavy 
ice.  But  there  is  no  great  extent  of  higher  ground  at  the 
watershed,  and  there  horizontal  grooves  1200  feet  higher  than 
the  watershed  aim  past  the  higher  peaks  from  which  alone 
glaciers  could  slide. 

If  the  other  direction  is  taken,  and  the  grooves  followed, 
the  same  thing  appears.  From  the  watershed  stria?  lead 
down  to  the  eastern  coast,  winding  seawards  in  the  grooves, 
and  they  are  found  on  hill-sides  far  above  the  bottom  of  the 
glen.  But  at  the  watershed  there  is  no  possible  source  for  a 
land-glacier,  and  no  apparent  reason  why  land-ice  of  any 
dimensions  should  move  horizontally  over  Scotland  at  1200 
feet  above  the  watershed  of  glens  which  isolate  the  hill.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  similar  marks  pass  over  Scandinavia 
at  about  the  same  level,  and  in  a  similar  direction,  and  that 
similar  marks  are  found  upon  American  hills.  If  these  be 
marks  of  land-ice  it  was  unlike  any  which  now  exists.  If 


PEKRY  VKAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    147 

they  be  marks  of  sea-ice,  the  Arctic  Current  explains  the 
puzzle.* 

The  head  of   Glen  Dochart   is  four  miles  from  Kinloch 

*  While  this  sheet  was  passing  through  the  press  a  new  work  on  this 
subject  appeared — The,  Physical  Geology  and  Geography  of  Great  Britain,  etc., 
by  A.  0.  Ramsay,  F.R.S. :  London,  Stanford,  June  1864.  The  opinions  of  the 
author  are  well  known,  and  have  been  adopted  by  several  eminent  geologists  ; 
in  particular  by  the  authors  of  the  Geology  of  Canada,  1863  ;  and  by  Mr. 
Geikie,  author  of  an  excellent  pamphlet  on  the  Phenomena  of  the  Glacial 
Drift  of  Scotland.  The  theory  assumes  a  period  of  intense  cold,  which  pre- 
vailed throughout  all  high  latitudes,  and  in  all  elevated  regions  of  the  earth, 
simultaneously  ;  and  which  caused  an  enormous  growth  of  ice  during  one  or 
more  geological  periods.  But  no  attempt  is  made  to  account  for  this  cold 
period.  The  theory  which  this  volume  is  intended  to  illustrate  is  that  the 
present  time  is  the  "glacial  period  ;"  and  that  an  explanation  of  ice-marks  is 
to  be  found  in  the  present  condition  of  other  parts  of  the  globe.  The  marks 
in  Scandinavia  suggest  glaciers  on  the  scale  of  glaciers  in  Greenland  ;  the 
marks  in  Great  Britain  suggest  sea-ice  on  the  scale  of  Labrador  ice  ;  the 
change  of  climate  at  one  place  is  accounted  for  by  a  change  in  the  course  of  an 
ocean-current,  caused  by  a  change  in  the  level  of  sea  and  of  land.  All  are 
agreed  as  to  the  facts  ;  the  questions  left  for  argument  are  the  cause  of  the 
change  which  has  surely  taken  place,  the  nature  of  the  ice  which  made  the 
spoor,  and  the  amount  of  work  which  this  engine  has  done. 

Mr.  Ramsay  attributes  many  rock-basins  and  their  lak«s  to  glaciation,  and 
few  agree  with  him  ;  these  volumes  go  further,  and  attribute  these  and  many 
of  the  main  lines  of  denudation  in  Northern  Europe  and  elsewhere  to  glacia- 
tion, combined  with  ocean-currents.  Mr.  Geikie  and  other  observers  attribute 
marks  in  Ross-shire  to  land-ice.  Their  difficulty  is  how  to  get  their  glaciers 
over  watersheds,  and  account  for  the  cold  of  the  exceptional  glacial  period. 
Mr.  Ramsay  appears  to  have  proved  that  glaciation  coincided  with  the  deposi- 
tion of  certain  breccias  of  Permian  age  in  Britain.  The  stones  are  glaciated 
stones,  that  is  certain  ;  their  position  rests  on  good  authority.  If  the  glacial 
period  began  soon  after  the  coal  formation,  and  has  endured  till  now,  the 
acknowledged  work  of  denudation  gains  the  aid  of  an  engine  which  works 
faster  than  streams  and  waves  do.  If  arctic  currents  are  now  to  be  added 
to  the  list,  they  are  bigger  and  stronger  tools  than  land-glaciers,  and  may 
have  helped  to  do  the  work,  which  has  certainly  been  done  somehow. 


148  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

Ewe  and  800  feet  above  the  sea.  Here  the  rocks  are  brittle 
and  broken,  and  there  are  no  marks. 

Loch  Roisg  is  630  feet  np,  and  from  the  head  of  it  to  the 
8.W.  the  Applecross  hills  are  seen  at  the  end  of  a  wide  strath. 
Here  is  a  high  col,  and  here  at  the  head  of  Loch  Koisg  are 
heaps  of  drift. 

Five  miles  off,  at  the  lower  end  of  the  lake,  near  Aclina- 
sheen,  are  flat  terraces  of  stratified  water-worn  gravel  and 
sand,  resting  on  a  large  lateral  moraine,  and  the  moraine  is 
on  grooved  rock.  Beyond  the  glen  towers  Sgur-a-Mhulin, 
and  a  range  of  high  hills.  The  grooves  point  along  Strath 
Bran  at  Ben  Wyvis  and  Loch  Carron,  so  ice  did  not  come 
from  the  high  hills. 

The  terraces  stretch  far  up  along  the  road  which  leads  to 
Torridon,  and  they  are  very  large. 

Tides  surely  flowed  through  this  strait  at  about  700  feet, 
for  no  small  streams  could  do  such  heavy  work. 

The  glacier-work  was  finished,  and  the  drift  left,  before 
the  gravel  was  packed  over  it.  And  the  river  is  now  winding 
along  a  plain  of  fine  sand  and  mud  which  it  washes  out  of 
older  water-work,  and  packs  away  in  lakes  in  Strath  Bran. 

The  lateral  moraine  or  the  glacial  sea-margin,  which 
begins  about  Loch  Eoisg,  is  followed  by  the  road  for  about 
twenty-five  miles  to  Garve  from  630  to  350  feet.  Here  the 
road  descends  from  the  high  glen  and  turns  away  from  Ben 
Wyvis  into  the  valley  of  the  Blackwater. 

The  grooves  are  well  marked  on  rocks  all  the  way  from 
Achnasheen  to  the  lower  end  of  Loch  Garve. 

At  630  feet  near  Achnasheen  grooves  on  gneiss  point  N. 
65°  E. 

At  530  feet,  at  the  junction  of  two  glens  near  Loch  Liochart, 


DERRY  VEAGH  CURVE — CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  ETC.    149 

and  the  junction  of  the  river  which  drains  Loch  Fannich, 
grooves  on  gneiss  point  N.  85°  E. 

Lower  down,  at  Lock  Liochart,  at  about  the  same  level, 
550  feet,  weathered  grooves  on  gneiss  point  N.  82°  E. 

About  this  level  the  high  glen  ends  suddenly  in  a  trans- 
verse glen.  The  drift  in  the  upper  groove  is  arranged  in 
layers  which  slope  down-hill  towards  the  W.S.W.  at  an  angle 
of  about  35°.  This  is  like  the  packing  of  silt  by  the  ebb  (vol. 
i.  p.  339). 

Above  the  inn  at  Garve,  at  about  600  feet,  grooves  on  a 
rib  of  white  quartz  turn  with  the  glen.  They  do  not  point 
at  Wyvis  or  up  into  Strath  Bran.  They  coast  round  a  hill- 
side, carefully  avoiding  the  high  hills,  as  rivers  do  at  the  lower 
level.  They  point  S.  45°  E. 

At  the  end  of  Loch  Garve,  beside  the  road,  grooves  on 
contorted  gneiss  take  another  turn  with  the  glen.  At  about 
150  feet  above  the  sea,  the  marks  point  N.  70°  E.,  and  aim  at 
the  shoulder  of  Wyvis,  which  bars  the  way.  On  this  hill- 
side are  piles  of  drift,  and  it  seems  as  though  a  glacier  had 
ploughed  down  to  the  sea-level  through  the  bed  of  the  Black- 
water.  Near  Contin  inn  the  rocks  disappear  under  plains  of 
rolled  drift. 

Now,  if  these  marks  were  made  by  a  land-glacier,  it  was 
twenty-five  miles  long  at  least,  and  it  must  have  had  a  large 
moraine.  That  mark  ought  to  be  found  somewhere  about  the 
foot  of  Wyvis,  or  about  Brahan,  or  Conan.  But  there  is  no 
large  moraine  with  conical  hills.  There  is  glacial  drift  in 
profusion,  but  the  moraine  shape  is  not  there. 

If  Strath  Bran  held  a  glacier  which  flowed  north  and  east 
towards  Ben  Wyvis,  stones  left  by  it  ought  to  be  blocks  of 
white  and  gray  quartz  and  gneiss,  fragments  of  rocks  in  Strath 
Bran,  and  near  it.  But  there  is  no  such  collection  of  native 


150 


BALTIC   CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 


drift  here.  If  ever  there  were  true  land-glaciers  in  this  dis- 
trict, they  were  launched  at  a  high  level,  in  a  sea  like  that 
which  is  now  passing  Cape  Farewell,  near  the  same  latitude, 
and  which  now  carries  "heavy  drift  ice"  and  "  northern  drift" 
southwards  and  westwards  in  sweeping  curves. 


A  -— -  —  Weathered  hill,  ground  hill,  and  fiat  drift.  Terraces  of  -water-worn  gravel  and  sand  at  the 
foot  of  Loch  Roisg,  near  Achnasheen,  at  about  650  or  700  feet  above  the  sea.  Sgiir-a-Mhi<lin,  beyond 
Strath  Bran.  Ice-marks  run  north-eastward  to  the  left  along  Strath  Rran  to  Ben  lYyvis. 


Fio.  79. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  11 — BRITISH   ISLES  10 — SCOTLAND  7 — STRATH 
BRAN,    BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC. 

Beinn  Uaish. — IN  travelling  down  Strath  Bran,  the  end  of  the 
groove  seems  barred  by  the  great  mountain  mass  of  Wyvis 
or  Beinn  Uaish.  The  highest  point  of  the  hill  is  nearly  4000 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  base  covers  a  very  wide  tract. 
Seen  from  Morayshire,  and  from  the  new  railway  near  Inver- 
ness, it  is  a  great  block  '  v  with  a  rolling  plateau  on  the  top, 
and  on  this  high  base  lofty  clouds  rest  when  neighbouring 
hills  are  clear. 

From  the  bridge  over  the  Conan,  the  movements  of  floats 
of  white  froth  may  be  studied  in  the  black  peat  water.  The 
floats  move  as  the  water  moves,  past  the  piers  of  the  bridge  ; 
and  such  curves  described  by  froth  are  roughly  drawn  at  page 
127  and  at  the  end  of  vol.  i.  On  Conan  Bridge,  as  on  any 
sloping  road,  marks  made  by  streams  of  water  flowing  past  a 
stone  may  be  seen.  The  forms  agree  with  the  movement  of 
floats.  In  walking  up  Wyvis  from  the  south-east,  the  course 
of  a  supposed  north-eastern  current,  which  came  down  the 
western  shore  of  Scandinavia,  is  crossed.  These  large  forms 
should  resemble  the  miniature  glens  on  the  bridge,  if  they  are 
in  any  way  the  work  of  ocean-currents.  The  shape  of  the 
land  about  Wyvis  corresponds  to  hollows  made  by  rain  on 
sand,  and  to  the  curves  drawn  by  froth  on  the  Conan;  and 
the  floats  in  the  Arctic  Current  in  this  latitude  are  large  floes 
and  deep  icebergs  loaded  with  boulders.  Here  boulders,  like 


152  BALTIC  CUKKENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

the  hill-forms,  seem  to  record  the  passage  of  ice-floats  south 
westward  at  a  high  level. 

Above  Dingwall,  in  the  woods  behind  Tulloch,  are 
numerous  boulders  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  pink  granite.  They 
are  not  common  angular  blocks,  but  large  rounded  blocks, 
like  those  which  abound  on  the  northern  shores  of  the  Baltic 
(see  vol.  i.  pp.  297,  322). 

At  540  feet  is  one  27  feet  round  and  8  feet  high  ;  it  is 
rounded  on  all  sides,  and  a  big  tree  beside  it  has  bent  round 
it  in  struggling  to  grow  upright.  Near  it  are  others  of  the 
same  kind,  and  these  rest  upon  a  foundation  of  brittle  slaty 
sandstone  (p.  167). 

At  600  feet  (the  level  of  Achnasheen)  is  a  flat  block  of 
gneiss  of  the  same  colour  and  composition  as  the  granite  ; 
and  this  block  is  scored  on  the  upper  surface.  It  is  9  feet 
long  by  6  broad. 

At  800  feet  (the  level  of  the  col  at  Glen  Dochart)  are  three 
large  rounded  masses  of  the  same  granite. 

At  950  feet  is  another,  and  at  this  level  the  top  of  Brahan 
Hill  and  Torachilty  are  overlooked. 

At  1100  feet,  on  the  top  of  this  hill,  are  more  large  granite 
boulders  on  a  wide  heathery  moor ;  and  from  this  spot  a  deep 

v -  groove  is  seen  crossing  the  ridge  of  Scotland  W.  by  S. 

It  is  Strath  Bran.     If  these  boulders  mark  a  sea-level,  then 
the  seaway  was  open  over  the  watershed  of  Scotland. 

A  corresponding  groove  runs  N.E.  along  the  foot  of  Wyvis. 
At  the  same  height,  four  miles  inland,  is  another  granite 
boulder  at  the  head  of  Strath  Peffer,  opposite  a  notch  in  the 
shoulder  of  Wyvis,  which  opens  Strath  Conan  above  Contin 
inn,  and  Strath  Bran  behind  Torachilty.  The  water  in  the 
glen  behind  Tulloch  runs  into  the  Cromarty  Firth  ;  but  at 
this  level  the  tides  would  flow  in  from  the  Firth  of  Dornoch. 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  153 

At  750  feet,  the  burn  has  cut  through  a  pile  of  terraced 
drift  level  with  terraces  at  Achnasheen.  The  bank  is  a  cliff 
of  gray  clay,  which  contains  numerous  scratched  stones, 
chiefly  gray  slaty  blocks  of  various  sizes,  amongst  which  are 
specimens  of  granite.  In  the  bed  of  the  stream,  where  the 
largest  stones  are  washed  clear  of  rubbish,  many  large  boulders 
of  granite  are  mixed  with  slaty  blocks.  But  there  is  no 
granite  hereabouts  in  situ. 

At  1000  feet,  up  the  side  of  Wyvis,  the  rock  is  laid  bare 
in  a  small  burn.  It  is  a  soft  slate  dipping  10°  south,  or  there- 
abouts. 

Thus  the  shape  of  Wyvis  ^  v  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
structure  of  the  rock,  but  is  due  to  denudation,  and  ice  has 
done  part  of  the  work  so  far.  There  are  blocks  of  granite  on 
the  hill,  and  a  moraine  in  the  glen.  Great  part  of  the  moraine 
seems  to  have  come  from  the  flanks  of  Wyvis  ;  and  the  corrie 

in  which  the  glacier  moved  is  seen  on  the  hill-side  - - .     But 

granite  is  foreign. 

At  1650  feet  is  a  conical  hill  called  Cioch  Mor.  It  is  a 
lump  of  hard  coarse  conglomerate  left  standing  in  the  groove. 
The  sides  are  scored ;  the  greatest  length  corresponds  to  the 
run  of  the  groove  ;  the  steepest  end  is  down-stream  towards 
the  west ;  it  is  a  large  tor.  In  the  supposed  lee  are  large 
blocks  of  mica-schist,  bits  of  gray  quartz  rock,  and  a  big 
boulder  of  gneiss. 

At  2600  feet,  the  sea-horizon  is  open  through  a  groove  to 
the  north-east. 

At  3000  feet,  the  ground  on  a  shoulder  of  Wyvis  is  smooth, 
flat,  and  covered  with  a  velvet  carpet  of  yellow-green  moss, 
over  which  mountain-hares  have  traced  a  pattern  of  footpaths. 
The  rock  shows  in  the  edge  of  the  deep  corrie  which  was  seen 
from  below.  It  is  a  coarse  gritty  sandstone  which  splits  into 


154  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

thin  flags ;  it  dips  about  S.W.  On  this  high  shoulder  are 
blocks  of  gneiss,  weathering  and  splitting  to  bits. 

The  view  over  the  central  district  of  Scotland  is  very  fine. 
All  the  low  hills  are  seen  to  have  one  even  slope  to  a  certain 
height  ' %  and  above  that  the  tops  are  of  a  different  pattern 
A.  The  Knock  of  Brae-Moray  is  a  cone  planted  upon  this 
upper  level,  as  Cioch  is  on  the  shoulder  of  Wyvis.  The  high 
hills  about  the  head  of  Strathspey  are  steep  conical  hills,  and 

the  way  over  the  Toridon  hills  is  open.  It  is  a  groove  v /  ; 

and,  as  shown  above,  it  is  ice-ground  and  terraced. 

At  2600  feet,  on  the  shoulder,  is  a  rounded  boulder  of  the 
Dovre  Fjeld  and  Finmark  pattern,  ten  feet  long,  and  made  of 
gneiss.  It  is  visible  from  Dingwall ;  and  it  must  have  floated 
to  the  shoulder  of  Wyvis,  unless  it  flew,  or  slid  upon  ice  all 
the  way  from  the  parent  rock. 

The  seaway  to  Scandinavia  along  the  coast  of  Sutherland 
is  clear  from  this  point  at  this  level.  Not  so  the  top  of  Wyvis, 
which  was  hidden  in  mist. 

At  2100  feet  rock-surfaces  are  bare  on  this  side  facing  the 
south.  They  are  rounded  but  much  weathered. 

At  2000  feet  and  lower  down  glaciated  surfaces  abound,  but 
they  are  all  weathered.  At  this  level  the  steep  side  of  the 
hill  ends,  and  the  base  has  a  longer  slope  to  the  head  of 
Strath  Peffer. 

At  1100  feet  are  many  granite  boulders.  And  on  the  top 
of  a  sandstone  quarry  by  the  road-side  near  Dingwall,  at  the 
end  of  the  Cromarty  Firth,  is  a  cap  of  glacial  drift  which 
contains  large  smoothed  scored  blocks  of  granite,  and  many 
other  hard  igneous  rocks. 

In  the  low  grounds  the  whole  country  is  covered  by 
masses  of  similar  stones  washed  and  rolled.  It  is  hard  to 
find  one  with  ice-marks  amongst  those  which  have  been 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN   UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  155 

moved  in  railway-making  and  other  works.  This  seems  to 
be  the  case  of  the  Galway  drift  repeated.  The  boulder-clay 
has  been  disturbed  and  repacked  by  water,  without  the  help 
of  sea-ice,  below  a  certain  level,  and  the  scratched  boulders 
are  water-worn  in  the  plain. 

From  Beinn  Slioch  to  Wyvis  the  way  to  Norway  is  open, 
and  floats  are  stranded  at  3000  feet.  There  are  no  small 
ice-grooves  left  on  Wyvis  to  point  out  the  way,  but  glens  and 
hills  are  but  larger  grooves  and  tors,  and  here  they  all  point 
up  the  coast  of  Sutherland  towards  Molde  and  Trondhjem, 
where  the  coast-line  takes  a  sweep  and  curves  northwards  as 
far  as  the  Lofoten  Islands  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle. 

Still  following  the  marks  on  Wyvis,  the  Sutherland  coast 
trends  N.  48°  E.,  and  there  are  no  Scotch  hills  from  which  the 
Wyvis  boulders  could  have  floated  at  3000  feet. 

At  the  mound  near  Dunrobin  Castle  is  a  high  bluff  of 
coarse  conglomerate,  on  which  small  ice-marks  cannot  be  seen, 
but  there  larger  grooves  are  remarkably  distinct.  The  whole 
hill-face  has  been  scored  horizontally  from  top  to  bottom. 
The  grinding  force  appears  to  have  come  along  the  coast  from 
the  N.E.  as  the  flood  does  now.  But  it  may  also  have  come 
from  the  opposite  direction  with  the  flood,  if  tides  ebbed  and 
flowed  over  this  part  of  Scotland,  as  they  are  supposed  to  do 
now  over  part  of  Greenland. 

The  woods  of  Dunrobin,  as  far  as  the  river  Brora,  grow 
on  vast  terraced  piles  of  boulders  which  do  not  seem 
to  be  moraines.  They  rest  upon  the  sides  of  ice-ground  hills 
above  the  sea,  as  if  they  belonged  to  a  system  far  larger  than 
any  land-glaciers  which  now  exist  even  in  Iceland.  They 
may  be  marks  of  the  "  ice-foot." 

These  terraced  heaps  are  like  the  terraces  of  Northern 
Scandinavia,  and  they  are  probably  effects  of  the  same 


156  BALTIC  CUKEENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

cause.  The  stones  are  of  the  Scandinavian  pattern,  and  some, 
at  least,  may  be  of  Scandinavian  origin.  To  decide  that  point 
special  knowledge  is  required.  If  Scotland  held  together  and 
sunk  and  rose  as  Scotchmen  are  said  to  do,  in  a  mass,  this 
coast  was  under  water  when  Wyvis  and  the  Gairloch  hills 
were  islands,  and  Caithness  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The 
terraces  appear  to  be  horizontal. 

Leaving  Scotland  and  following  the  curve  of  the  Scotch 
coast  up  to  Scandinavia,  the  same  forms  recur  all  the  way 
to  the  North  Cape.  If  summer  lost  the  aid  of  the  Gulf  Stream, 
winter  and  his  fleets  of  ice  would  reign  in  spite  of  the  mid- 
night sun  of  Scandinavia.  But  if  there  were  Greenland  weather 
in  Norway,  there  would  be  a  wintry  crop  in  Northern  Scot- 
land, and  Sutherland  might  grow  icebergs  instead  of  wheat 
and  dun  deer. 

Thus  starting  at  Beinn  Eith  and  Beinn  Mhonaidh,  on  the 
western  coast  of  Scotland,  ice-marks  at  a  level  of  2000  feet 
lead  across  Scotland  to  Wyvis.  There  boulders  mark  a  sea- 
level  of  2600  or  3000  feet,  and  the  shape  of  the  country  and  of 
the  east  coast,  existing  tides,  and  other  marks,  all  point  one 
way.  When  the  line  is  run  out  at  the  North  Cape,  it  coin- 
cides with  an  equatorial  current,  which  is  continually  flowing 
into  the  arctic  basin,  along  the  north-western  coast  of 
Norway.  If  an  arctic  current  flowed  out  here,  and  the  Gulf 
Stream  passed  westwards  by  Panama,  the  climates  of  these 
northern  regions  would  change. 

This  curve  passes  very  near  Trondhjem  where  a  road  crosses 
to  Sweden.  Chambers  estimated  the  height  of  the  col  at  or 
below  2000  feet.  He  found  ice-grooves  perfectly  preserved 
on  this  watershed,  and  they  pointed  N.E.  and  S.W.* 

North-east  from  this  spot  there  is  no  land  of  equal  height 
*  Edinburgh  Journal,  vol.  xii.  p.  75. 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  1$7 

now,  unless  it  be  in  Novaya  Zemlya,  or  about  the  North 
Pole.  So  the  boulder  on  Wyvis  may  have  sailed  over  Norway. 

If  it  came  on  land-ice,  the  neve*  must  have  been  some- 
where beyond  Scandinavia,  the  terminal  moraine  somewhere 
beyond  Galway ;  and  a  glacier  moved  in  the  same  direction, 
in  similar  latitudes,  in  North  America,  up  the  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  according  to  marks  there.  A  Baltic  current  is 
easier  to  swallow,  though  it  is  a  large  draught. 

Central  Sutherland  is  a  wide  rolling  plateau,  with  a  few 
tall  conical  hills  rising  above  the  moor. 

On  the  west  coast  the  hills  are  higher,  and  they  are  quoted 
by  the  most  eminent  geologists  as  proofs  of  enormous  de- 
nudation. On  all  the  bare  hills  ice-marks  are  conspicuous. 

The  sketch  copied  in  the  woodcut  was  made  from  a  yacht 
25th  September  1848,  on  a  clear  calm  day  with  a  transparent 
atmosphere,  and  the  outlines  are  tolerably  accurate,  though 
each  hill  was  sketched  from  a  different  point,  as  the  yacht 
came  opposite  to  it.  The  shape  of  the  surface  in  the  central 
districts  of  Sutherland  is  like  that  of  the  upper  plateau  which 
divides  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  from  the  arctic  basin  ^  x .  The 
shapes  of  the  hills  on  the  west  coast  are  like  those  of  hills 
which  now  rise  through  glaciers  in  Iceland  A. 

The  sharp  angular  peaks  in  Sutherland  are  like  weathered 
hills  elsewhere.  Talus-heaps  rest  below  the  cliffs  from  which 
stones  fall  in  every  frost,  and  after  every  fall  of  rain  rivers 
and  mountain-streams  add  to  the  heaps,  and  carry  part  of 
them  a  stage  down-hill.  But  the  low  grounds  in  Sutherland, 
Scandinavia,  and  Iceland,  are  not  weathered  but  ground,  and 
they  all  have  one  characteristic  shape. 

In  Iceland  there  is  a  tract  of  ice  nearly  as  large  as  Suther- 
land, in  which  neve  and  ice  cover  the  whole  land  like  a  white 
pall,  but  the  fringe  is  a  black  scolloped  border  of  hills,  and 


158 


BAT/TIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 


some  of  these  are  like  the  hills  of 
Western  Sutherland. 

The  ice  flows  into  the  central 
hollow  of  Iceland,  but  it  melts  before 
two  broad  streams  meet.  For  a 
distance  equal  to  that  which  the 
woodcut  includes,  two  great  banks 
of  ice  hem  in  Sprengisandr,  and  the 
outline  of  one  is  like  that  of  the  dark 
shadow  in  the  sky  of  the  woodcut. 
The  ice-banks  are  advancing  towards 
the  sand,  as  if  towards  the  sea-coast 
of  Sutherland.  But  where  a  bit  of 
harder  rock  has  pierced  the  ice-crust, 
it  stands  up  as  a  long  ridge,  a  steep 
rock-spur  in  the  round  white  ice- 
mountain  '  N .  It  is  a  tor  ^  s  . 

One  of  these  hills  in  Iceland  has 
the  shape  of  Suil  Bheinn,  in  the 
woodcut  of  Sutherland.  The  ice- 
stream  is  splitting  at  the  col,  flowing 
along  the  sides,  and  meeting  again 
in  the  lee.  One  glance  is  enough  to 
show  the  movement,  and  the  hill 
retains  ice-marks  high  above  the 
present  ice-level.  This  hill  is  a 
great  ice-tor,  which  the  Arnefells 
Jb'kull  has  hewed  and  is  still  hewing 
out  of  bedded  igneous  rock.  Suil 
Bheinn  is  another  of  the  same  size 
and  pattern,  and  the  same  marks  are 
on  both,  though  one  is  igneous,  and 
the  other  sedimentary  rock. 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN  UAISH,   SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  159 

They  are  long  ridges  pointing  up-stream,  tors  on  a  large 
scale,  mounds  left  in  a  rock-cutting,  by  which  to  measure  the 
work  done  ;  and  the  tool-marks  are  those  of  ice. 

In  the  woodcut,  Suil  Bheinn  is  seen  end  on,  and  it  looks 
like  a  pillar.*  When  the  hill  is  seen  from  the  side,  it  is  a 
long  steep  ridge  which  ends  in  a  knife-edge,  and  there  are  not 
many  places  where  it  can  be  scaled.  The  strata  of  which  it 
is  made  are  nearly  horizontal,  and  the  same  beds  recur  in  hills 
to  the  right,  beyond  the  gaps  which  are  valleys  of  denudation. 

According  to  Geikie  and  other  geologists,  who  have  explored 
this  district  in  more  detail,  the  direction  of  high  ice-grooves 
coincides  with  that  of  passes  and  main  glens,  which  run  from 
south-east  to  north-west,  north  of  Loch  Maree  (see  woodcut, 
p.  17). 

About  the  same  latitude,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  the  Arctic  Current,  after  flowing  south-west  along 
the  coast  of  Greenland,  eddies  round  Cape  Farewell,  and  flows 
north-west,  with  all  its  train  of  ice-floats.  It  whirls  round 
again  further  north,  and  flows  down  to  Newfoundland,  along 
the  curve  transferred  to  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  232).  A  very  slight 
modification  of  that  curve  would  make  it  fit  the  glens  of 
Sutherland  and  Caithness,  and  ice-marks  on  high  passes  in 
this  district.  The  curve  would  then  represent  an  eddy  in  the 
North  Sea,  and  such  an  eddy  might  well  result  from  a  rise  of 
land  in  the  path  of  a  Baltic  current  sweeping  round  the  point 
of  Norway,  as  the  Arctic  Current  now  sweeps  round  Cape 
Farewell.  It  is  easy  to  test  this  theory,  by  building  clay 
maps  of  this  part  of  Europe  in  any  shallow  pool  with  a  run- 
ning stream. 

When  the  land  rose,  land-glaciers  wrould  follow  the  present 
river-courses,  till  they  melted  and  became  rivers.  And  this 

*  Snlar,  Icelandic  for  pillar. 


1GO  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

seems  to  have  been  the  order  of  change  all  the  way  from  Gal- 
way  to  North  Berwick,  from  Malm  Head  to  Cape  Wrath  and 
John  o'  Groat's  House. 

First,  cold  ocean-currents  working  .denudation  on  a  large 
scale  ;  then  local  denudation  worked  by  minor  causes  acting 
from  watersheds  downwards. 

From  the  sea  the  north  coast  of  Sutherland  appears  to  be 
ice-ground,  but  the  sea  has  dug  into  the  rock,  and  wild  L 
cliffs  overhang  a  wild  sea. 

All  down  the  west  coast  forms  of  glaciation  recur  below  a 
certain  level,  above  which  are  forms  of  weathering,  and  the 
sea-cliff  is  forming  at  the  sea-leveL 

In  the  islands  it  is  still  the  same.  In  the  low  island  of 
Lewes  ;  in  the  low  lands  of  Harris  ;  near  the  high  mountains 
of  the  south  end  of  Harris  ;  in  North  Uist,  Benbecula  (Beinn- 
e-Mhaoil),  South  Uist,  Barra,  Skye,  Mull,  Tyree,  Jura,  Islay, 
and  in  scores  of  smaller  islands,  similar  forms  recur  in  rocks 
of  eVery  description. 

In  the  Long  Island,  for  instance,  looking  from  the  north 
end  of  South  Uist,  the  low  grounds  of  Benbecula  and  North 
Uist  are  spread  out  like  a  map.  There  is  a  wide  plain  of 
peat  and  sand,  salt  and  fresh  water,  through  which  low 
hummocks  of  gray  rock  and  piles  of  boulders  appear.  In  the 
midst  of  this  half-drowned  land  rise  two  hills  of  the  same 
pattern.  They  slope  to  the  eastward,  and  are  steep  to  the  west- 
ward, and  they  are  ground  and  rounded  from  top  to  bottom. 
Memory  and  rough  sketches  are  enough  to  show  that  these 
hills  are  but  large  tors,  of  the  pattern  of  Bren  Tor  in  Devonshire, 
and  hills  in  Lapland,  with  the  same  bearings.  A  small  de- 
pression would  make  them  islands,  like  those  which  are 
scattered  broadcast  along  the  Scotch  and  Norwegian  coasts. 

If  there  be  strife  on  these  hills,  they  will  point  towards 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  161 

the  Lofoten  Islands,  which  they  resemble  ;  but  they  were 
not  examined  for  high  grooves. 

Outside  of  Harris  grooves  point  N.E.  and  S.W.  along  the 
western  coast  near  the  shore  beside  a  road. 

In  Skye,  at  Loch  Corrie  Uisge,  marks  of  ice  can  be  traced 
to  a  great  height,  and  down  to  the  sea,  as  clearly  as  in  Korns- 
dal  or  Justedal,  or  in  a  Swiss  or  Icelandic  glen,  where  ice  is 
working.  This  district  has  been  described  by  Forbes  ;  it  was 
first  seen  by  the  writer  in  1845,  while  the  impression  left  by 
the  Alps  was  fresh,  and  the  work  was  then  attributed  to 
land-ice. 

In  Rona,  near  the  lighthouse  at  the  north-eastern  end, 
the  hills  seem  ground  from  the  north-east,  and  thence  a  sea- 
way is  open  to  the  North  Atlantic. 

In  Eaasay,  according  to  Geikie,  all  the  hills  are  ice- 
ground,  as  he  supposes  from  the  south-west  by  ice  sliding 
from  Skye. 

If  the  grinding  resulted  from  the  alternate  movements  of 
tides,  the  opposite  ends  of  these  two  long  islands  may  well 
show  opposite  movements.  The  uttermost  rock  of  Scotland, 
the  I>ubh  lartach,  has  a  long  reef  to  the  south-west. 

In  Coll  and  Tyree  are  perched  blocks.  In  Mull,  Colonsay, 
Oronsay,  Jura,  and  in  Islay,  are  all  the  marks  attributed  to  ice ; 
and  drift-terraces  abound. 

The  Scaur  of  Eig,  that  strangest  of  all  the  Western 
Islands,  is  a  great  wall  of  trap,  with  notched  sides  built 
upon  a  pyramidal  base  of  stratified  rocks,  and  one  layer  in 
this  masonry  contains  fossil  wood,  immediately  under  the 
trap-wall.  The  island  is  another  case  of  denudation  ;  it  is  a 
tor  in  the  sea ;  and  it  points  up  into  the  Sound  of  Sleat 
X.E.  at  Strath  Bran  and  the  coast  of  Sutherland.  South- 
west of  it  are  Muck,  Coll,  Tyrce,  and  the  Sgcirc  Mhor  reef ; 
VOL.  n.  M 


162  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

and  breakers  are  beyond.  This  is  a  long  ridge  partly  sunk, 
and  aiming  S.W.  outside  of  Islay  and  Ireland. 

The  whole  of  these  islands — all  the  small  ones,  and  the 
main  ranges  of  hills  and  glens  in  the  large  ones — have  one 
general  N.E.  and  S.W.  trend. 

Any  good  map  shows  the  form  of  the  coast.  There  is  no 
good  map  of  the  hills,  but  wrhen  the  Ordnance  map  appears, 
it  will  show  that  all  these  island-forms  bear  reference  to 
grooves  crossing  meridians  diagonally  south-westwards,  like 
the  chief  passes  on  the  mainland,  which  no  map  shows. 

Further  north,  the  low  Shetlands  seem  all  to  be  ice- 
ground  rocks. 

In  Orkney,  farmers  find  their  land  full  of  great  loose 
stones,  and  the  general  shape  of  the  low  rocks  towards  the 
north  is  rounded.  At  the  southern  end,  the  coast-lines  are 
chiefly  cliffs  of  great  height,  which  the  sea  is  undermining. 

So  the  general  shape  of  this  country  on  a  map ;  the  general 
shape  of  the  hills  as  seen  from  a  distance,  minute  details  on 
shore  ;  the  general  shape  of  Western  Europe,  and  of  the  whole 
northern  hemisphere, — all  seem  to  point  to  symmetrical  denu- 
dation, and  to  the  action  of  ice  on  shore  and  afloat. 

Taking  the  curves  of  the  Arctic  Current  from  Spitzbergen 
to  Cape  Farewell  as  a  natural  curve  of  motion  which  might 
be  repeated  elsewhere,  and  is  extended  south  of  Newfound- 
land, the  curve  can  be  applied  to  the  British  Isles,  as  shown 
roughly  in  the  map  (vol.  i.  p.  232). 

A  S.W.  curve,  which  comes  out  of  West  Fjord  in  Norway, 
passes  between  the  Shetlands  and  the  Faro  Islands  to  Rockall. 

Curves  which  start  about  the  watershed  of  Lapland,  near 
Kautokeino,  etc.,  skirt  the  Norwegian  coast,  pass  over  the 
Shetlands  and  Hebrides,  and  coincide  with  ice-grooves  on  the 
outside  of  the  Island  of  Harris. 


STRATH  BRAN,  BE1NN   UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.  1G3 

South-west  curves  drawn  from  south-west  ice-grooves  on 
the  watershed  of  Scandinavia  beyond  Trondhjem,  skirt  the 
Norwegian  coast,  and  the  Scotch  coast  from  the  Ord  of  Caith- 
ness, to  ice-grooves  on  hills  at  Dunrobin  in  Sutherland ;  thence 
Strath  Bran  and  small  ice-grooves  carry  the  curves  over  Scot- 
land, into  the  Sound  of  Sleat.  The  curve  passes  Coll  and 
Tyree  and  the  Sgeire  Mhor,  into  the  Atlantic,  and  even  under 
water  sunken  hills  and  hollows  stretch  further  in  the  same 
direction. 

The  same  curve,  begun  about  boulders  on  the  Dovre  Fjeld, 
passes  seaward  with  ice-grooves  out  of  Romsdal,  and  enters 
the  Moray  Firth.  The  Caledonian  Canal,  the  Muckle  Glen  and 
ice-grooves  in  it,  carry  the  line  over  Scotland  into  Loch  Linne, 
and  it  passes  Colonsay  and  Oronsay,  which  are  ice-ground. 
There,  again,  sunken  rocks  extend  in  long  broken  ridges 
south-westward  into  the  Atlantic.  Strong  tides  and  wild  seas 
work  in  the  hollows,  which  hold  sounds,  amongst  these  islands. 
If  the  sea  were  cumbered  with  heavy  ice,  as  it  is  off  Labrador, 
there  is  water-power  enough  and  to  spare  in  this  region,  to 
work  the  floating  ice-engine  which,  according  to  Kane,  "  rubs 
rocks." 

Curves  begun  at  the  head  of  the  Sogne  Fjord,  at  the  foot 
of  the  highest  hills  in  Norway,  follow  ice-grooves  to  the  sea, 
and  pass  by  several  local  glacier-systems  near  Bergen.  They 
fall  into  a  series  of  deep  grooves  which  cross  central  Scotland, 
and  in  these  the  curves  coincide  with  ice-marks  which  cross 
the  watershed,  and  touch  hill-tops  in  Argyle  ;  they  recur  in 
Glen  Veagh,  Donegal,  etc.,  in  Ireland. 

Curves  drawn  from  boulders  on  the  Fille  Fjeld  in  Norway 
fall  in  with  boulders  about  Aberdeen,  skirt  the  Sidlaw  Hills, 
where  they  coincide  with  marks  on  the  rock  ;  pass  Perth  and 
Stirling  and  Glasgow ;  Argyll,  Arran,  and  Ceantire ;  the  Giant's 


164  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

Causeway,  Sligo,  and  Westport ;  and  there  are  ice-marks  all 
the  way  which  seem  to  correspond  to  a  general  movement  in 
that  direction,  at  a  high  leveL 

Curves  begun  about  the  Hardanger  glaciers  run  with  ice- 
marks  for  a  hundred  miles  in  Scandinavia  ;  join  an  ice-mark 
on  North  Berwick  Law,  and  wind  their  way  across  Scotland 
and  Ireland  to  Connemara  and  Galway,  where  the  spoor  is 
lost  in  the  sea.  It  is  there  as  perfect  as  if  made  yesterday, 
on  limestone  rocks  laid  bare  in  making  a  railway  near  the 
coast,  and  on  the  top  of  a  quartz  hill  2000  feet  high. 

All  these  several  lines  have  not  been  followed  expressly 
to  study  ice-marks  ;  but  some  have,  and  the  rest  are  pretty 
well  known  to  one  who  has  wandered  amongst  the  hills 
whenever  he  could.  There  is  scarcely  a  Scotch  hill  or  glen, 
in  island  or  in  mainland,  which  does  not  bear  some  conspicu- 
ous mark  of  glacial  denudation.  The  low  marks  seem  gene- 
rally to  bear  reference  to  local  glacier  systems.  The  high 
marks,  from  3000  and  2000  feet  down  to  the  sea-level  in  low 
passes,  appear  to  bear  reference  to  a  general  system  of  hori- 
zontal movement  in  water  and  floating  ice,  like  that  which  is 
now  going  on  further  west. 

These  theories,  founded  upon  observation  of  glacial  action 
in  Switzerland,  Scandinavia,  and  Iceland,  and  of  ice-marks  on 
rocks  at  home  and  abroad,  during  twenty-two  years,  are  thus 
far  supported  by  facts  gathered  from  books  and  stated  above. 
They  are  also  propped  up  by  facts  observed  and  gathered  by 
the  latest  writers  on  this  cold  subject. 

They  gain  strength  from  facts  stated  by  geologists  in  the 
Geological  Sumey  of  Canada,  1863  ;  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell  in 
his  great  work  on  the  Antiquity  of  Man,  1863  ;  by  Professor 
Ramsay  in  numerous  papers  ;  by  Mr.  Geikie  in  his  work  on 
the  Glacial  Drift  of  Scotland,  1863,  which  is  perhaps  the 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.          165 

best  book  of  its  class  which  has  yet  appeared.  All  these 
authorities,  and  a  host  of  witnesses  whom  they  quote,  are 
agreed  that  the  British  Isles  are  ice-ground,  and  that  the 
land  has  been  submerged  to  a  height  which  would  only  leave 
a  few  hill-tops  above  water.  The  facts  are  beyond  cavil ; 
they  seem  to  lead  to  the  following  conclusions  : — 

1st,  Because  raised  terraces  and  sea-margins  are  nearly 
parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  sea,  it  is  probable  that  the  last 
rise  of  land  in  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Scandinavia,  was  a 
general  swelling  movement,  which  included  a  very  large 
area  of  upheaval. 

2d,  That  the  last  cold  period  in  this  area,  and  in  parti- 
cular in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  coincided  with  a  sea-level  at 
least  as  high  as  the  highest  erratics  yet  found  in  Scotland 
(on  Wyvis  and  Driom  Uachdar  at  3000  feet)  ;  and  with  the 
highest  horizontal  ice-grooves,  which  are  at  about  2000  feet 
on  Shan  Folagh  in  Ireland,  and  2000  feet  on  hills  about 
Loch  Maree.  They  may  yet  be  found  higher. 

3d,  That  the  cold  period  also  coincided  with  the  sea- 
level,  which  is  marked  by  the  highest  Scotch  terrace  of 
glacial  drift.  The  highest  known  to  the  writer  is  near  Dai- 
whinny,  at  about  1400  feet. 

4:th,  That  ice-marks  may  have  been  made  in  deep  water 
by  ice-floats  grounding  in  1800  feet,  while  an  "  ice-foot " 
packed  drift  in  terraces  at  the  sea-level ;  because  these  opera- 
tions are  now  going  on  further  west  in  similar  latitudes. 

5th,  That  the  last  Scotch  glaciers  which  reached  the  sea 
passed  away  after  the  land  had  risen  to  the  level  of  the 
lowest  perfect  terminal  moraine.  The  lowest  of  these  yet 
found  by  the  writer  are  opposite  to  glens  north  and  south  of 
Loch  Ericht  near  Dalwhinny,  at  about  1400  feet.  All  lower 
moraines  seem  to  be  washed  out  of  shape. 


166  BALTIC  CURRENT-^BRITISH  ISLES — SCOTLAND. 

6th,  That  this  level  of  1400  feet,  and  all  other  levels 
marked  above  that  plane,  coincided  with  a  general  movement 
of  cold  water  from  the  arctic  basin  south-westwards,  which 
was  varied  by  tides  and  impediments,  so  as  to  make  eddies 
like  those  drawn  on  the  map,  vol.  i.  p.  496. 

7th,  That  this  general  movement,  varied  by  local  tides 
and  eddies,  continued  while  there  was  a  strait  left  open  in 
Britain ;  now  continues  in  the  Straits  of  Dover  and  in  the 
Pentland  Firth  ;  and  in  the  Arctic  Current  and  Gulf  Stream, 
which  alter  climate  in  similar  latitudes  on  opposite  coasts. 

8th,  That  the  end  of  the  last  cold  period  in  Scotland 
nearly  coincided  with  the  sea-level  of  1400  feet,  which  is 
marked  by  a  moraine  of  conical  mounds  at  Dalwhinny,  and 
by  a  terrace  of  glacial  drift,  partially  water-worn,  beside  the 
moraine. 

9th,  That  this  change  also  coincided  with  the  closing  of 
a  strait  by  the  rise  of  land  in  Lapland,  which  is  now  1500 
feet  above  the  sea,  according  to  Von  Buch's  measurement. 

Wth,  That  a  gradual  subsidence  in  the  same  tract  would 
let  in  the  current  by  opening  the  strait,  and  would  bring 
back  the  period  of  cold  to  Scotland  when  land  had  sunk 
about  1500  feet  to  the  north  of  the  Baltic. 

IWi,  That  many  similar  changes  of  equal  amount,  pro- 
duced by  the  same  causes,  may  have  taken  place  ;  and  that 
the  present  shape  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Scandinavia  chiefly 
results  from  denudation  by  currents  of  air  and  water,  which 
still  circulate.  These  are  driven  by  mechanical  powers  which 
still  work  the  engine,  and  guided  by  laws  which  produce 
regular  movements. 

12th,  Because  these  laws  seem  to  govern  all  known  quan- 
tities and  dimensions,  small  quantities  of  earth  and  water, 
and  streams  which  men  can  see  and  guide,  serve  to  help 


STRATH  BRAN,  BEINN  UAISH,  SUTHERLAND,  ETC.          167 

them  to  comprehend  movements  which  they  cannot  control 
or  see  ;  or  even  comprehend  without  hard  thinking. 

13th,  Because  Scotch  and  Irish  rocks,  exposed  to  the 
weather  at  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  at  the  sea-level,  still 
retain  sand-marks  which  are  perfectly  fresh,  and  less  weathered 
than  Egyptian  sculpture  4000  years  old,  the  time  which  has 
elapsed  since  the  end  of  the  last  British  glacial  period  must 
be  short.  The  occupation  of  the  British  Isles  by  the  ances- 
tors of  races  who  still  dwell  there  may  have  coincided  with 
the  existence  of  glaciers  on  Scotch  hills,  and  traditions  may 
be  dim  recollections  of  these  geological  facts. 

In  the  course  of  this  journey  from  Galway  to  Dingwall, 
from  Malin  Head  to  Cape  Wrath,  the  Baltic  Current  theory 
has  gained  strength.  Another  cast  southwards  will  try  the 
hobby  ;  if  he  is  sound  after  that  run,  he  may  be  trotted  out 
and  started,  to  try  his  chance  with  other  hobbies. 


Fio.  81.  BOUNDED  GRANITE  BOULDER,  IN  A  WOOD  BEHIND  TULLOOH,  RESTINO  ON  SLATE, 
540  feet  above  the  sea  (p.  152). 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

BALTIC   CURRENT  12 — BRITISH   ISLES  11 — ISLE   OF   MAN. 

A  KNOWING  old  pointer  quarters  his  ground  on  system,  and 
his  system  is  worthy  of  imitation  by  all  who  search. 

Turned  loose  on  the  brown  moor  on  a  fine  breezy  morning, 
he  capers  soberly,  and  shakes  his  velvet  ears,  and  licks  his 
slobbering  lips,  to  express  his  intense  enjoyment  of  freedom 
and  fresh  air  ;  and  then,  with  quivering  nose  breast  high,  and 
wavering  tail  in  full  play,  he  settles  steadily  to  his  work.     He 
takes  his  line  and  tacks  steadily  to  windward,  crossing  and 
recrossing  the  straight  line  which  the  human  sportsman  draws 
in  the  wind's  eye.     When  one  beat  is  finished,  a  wave  of  the 
keeper's  hand  conveys  the  order,  and  the  eloquent  tail  and 
ears  tell  that  their  owner  knows  what  to  do.     Up  goes  the 
head,  off  goes  the  pointer  down  wind  at  score,  that  he  may 
beat  to  windward  again.     Having  beat  the  northern  half  of 
the  ground  on  the  pointer's  zigzag  plan,  let  the  middle  of  the 
moor  have  a  turn.     The  S.W.  curve  drawn  from  high  grounds 
at  the  head  of  Ssetarsdal,  past  Stavanger,  runs  over  an  ice- 
ground  country  in  Norway,  passes  Berwick,  the  Solway  Firth, 
the  Cumberland  hills,  the  Isle  of  Man,  Drogheda,  and  Dublin, 
and  passes  out  by  the  Shannon.     If  one  leg  of  a  pair  of  com- 
passes be  placed  on  the  Isle  of  Man,  a  large  circle,  described 
about   that    point,   nearly   touches   Duncansby   Head,  Cape 
Wrath,  the  Butt  of  Lewes,  Cape  Clear,  the  Scilly  Isles,  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames,  and  Kinnaird  Head.     The  lighthouse 


ISLE  OF  MAN.  1G9 

on  the  Calf  of  Man  is  near  the  centre  of  the  British  Isles, 
and  the  island  may  be  taken  as  a  miniature  of  the  whole 
group. 

The  Isle  of  Man  is  about  thirty  miles  long  and  twelve 
broad ;  and  the  highest  point  is  about  2000  feet  above  the 
sea.  The  long  axis  bears  about  N.E.  by  N. 

The  north-eastern  end  of  the  hill  country  is  rounded  ;  the 
south-western  is  broken.  To  the  north-east  a  long  low  tract 
stretches  about  eight  miles  from  the  hills  to  the  point  of  Ayre. 
At  the  other  end  the  sea  has  so  undermined  the  hills,  that 
cliffs  are  350  feet  high  at  Brada  Head  and  elsewhere.  Ex- 
posed trees  point  about  N.E.,  so  the  prevailing  wind  is  from 
the  S.W.  The  flood-tide  comes  from  the  same  direction.  Drift 
timber,  like  that  which  the  Gidf  Stream  lands  elsewhere  on  the 
British  Isles,  is  sometimes  stranded  about  the  Calf  of  Man. 
So  the  Mull  hills,  Brada  Head,  and  the  south-western  coasts 
of  the  Isle  of  Man,  are  exposed  to  wind,  and  tide,  and  ocean- 
currents,  and  to  large  Atlantic  waves,  which  roll  up  channel. 
The  point  of  Ayre,  on  the  contrary,  is  sheltered. 

Denudation  and  deposition  are  still  going  on  ;  air  and 
water  are  at  work  ;  and  the  form  of  the  work  is  conspicuous. 
Speaking  generally,  the  coast-line  is  a  shelf  quarried  out  of 
contorted  silurian  and  other  strata,  most  of  which  dip  at  a 
high  angle.  A  vertical  cliff,  and  a  shattered  plain  below  it, 
form  an  L  notch  between  high  and  low  water  mark.  On  this 
shelf  the  sea  packs  chips  which  it  digs  from  the  cliff. 

At  the  sheltered  north-eastern  end  the  beach  is  made  of 
gravel,  fine  sand,  and  clay,  and  it  shelves  gradually.  The  out- 
line of  the  coast  is  smooth,  like  that  of  a  mud-bank  in  a  mill- 
stream.  At  the  battered  end  the  coast-line  is  jagged,  and 
beaches  are  steep  and  narrow,  and  generally  made  of  large 
egg-shaped  boulders,  some  as  big  as  a  man's  head.  These  are 


170  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

tools  with  which  waves  quarry  cliffs,  and  they  bear  marks  of 
work.  The  general  shape  of  sea-worn  boulders  is  curved  ; 
but  their  smooth  surface  is  dinted  and  pitted  by  small 
hollows.  Forty  or  fifty  go  to  a  square  inch,  and  each  pit  records 
a  blow.  The  water-line  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  is  also  worn 
smooth  by  the  rolling  of  smooth  pebbles  at  some  places  ;  but 
generally  the  rock  is  jagged,  torn,  and  broken  by  the  storm  of 
boulders,  with  which  heavy  rollers,  driven  by  strong  winds, 
pelt  the  cliffs. 

If  the  island  has  risen  from  an  open  sea,  there  should  be 
beach-marks  of  this  kind  on  the  hills. 

On  a  clear  fine  morning,  after  a  slight  fall  of  snow  and  a 
strong  wind,  the  shape  of  the  ground  is  picked  out  in  lines  of 
black  and  white ;  and  on  such  a  day  hills  in  the  Isle  of 
Man,  seen  from  Douglas  Bay,  appear  to  be  ruled  horizontally 
up  to  a  height  of  about  1200  feet.  Low  down  at  least  three 
notches  can  be  made  out  on  the  hills  which  make  the  horns 
of  the  bay.  The  lighthouse  is  perched  on  one  of  these  shelves. 
At  about  150  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  road-side,  on  the  hill 
to  the  N.E.  of  Douglas,  a  quarry  was  open  in  March  1864. 
The  rock  is  silurian  slate,  dipping  at  a  high  angle,  the  same 
as  the  jagged  rocks  which  form  the  present  sea-beach  below 
the  hill.  The  cap  of  the  quarry  is  a  thick  bed  of  compact 
clay,  showing  signs  of  deposition  in  water.  It  is  arranged  in 
thin  beds  where  it  touches  the  rock,  and  it  contains  ice- 
ground  stones,  which  may  be  contrasted  with  boulders  carried 
from  the  beach.  The  rock-surface  is  not  broken,  but  shorn 
across  the  edges  of  the  strata,  so  that  the  boundary-line 
between  rock  and  clay  is  an  even  convex  curve  ^~^.  When 
this  rock-surface  is  laid  bare  and  washed  clean,  it  is  found  to 
be  smoothed,  grooved,  and  striated  from  E.N.E. 

So  ice  had  a  share  in  hewing  out  these  hills  and  marking 


ISLE  OF  MAN.  171 

these  beach-lines,  and  it  was  not  ice  sliding  from  the  tops, 
but  ice  moving  horizontally  along  the  coast,  which  made  these 
marks  at  Douglas,  at  150  feet  above  the  present  sea-level. 

At  about  450  feet  above  the  sea,  the  road  from  Douglas 
to  Laxey  passes  over  the  ridge  in  a  groove  which  runs  along 
the  hills  from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  crossing  glens  in  which  the  drain- 
age of  the  country  now  flows. 

On  the  Mull  hills,  at  the  south-western  end,  at  least  three 
shelves  can  be  distinguished  on  hill-sides  and  cliff-faces. 
These  occur  at  about  the  same  levels  wherever  they  are 
visible,  on  promontories,  etc.,  according  to  very  rough  obser- 
vations hurriedly  made.  To  get  at  the  full  meaning  of  these 
"  terraces  of  erosion,"  a  careful  survey  should  be  made. 

There  are  large  boulders,  at  about  450  feet,  at  the  top  of 
the  ridge,  between  Douglas  and  Laxey,  and  also  at  Brada 
Head,  at  about  450  feet,  which  seems  to  be  the  level  of  one 
of  these  rock-shelves  which  surround  the  whole  island. 
There  is  evidence  of  an  ice-laden  sea  up  to  this  level  at 
least.  At  Laxey  are  two  deep  glens  which  run  to  the  water- 
shed. They  have  the  shape  of  glacier-glens,  and  they  contain 
large  boulders.  The  marks  of  a  large  glacier  will  probably  be 
found  in  these  rock-grooves  when  they  are  examined. 

A  depression  of  500  feet  would  make  the  Isle  of  Man  a 
row  of  small  conical  islands,  stretching  from  N.E.  to  S.W. 
North  Barule,  1842  feet,  would  be  at  one  angle  ;  the  point  of 
Ayre  would  be  under  water  ;  Cronck  Irey  na  Lahaa  (the  hill 
of  the  rise  of  day,  1445  feet,  fifteen  miles  S.W.)  would  be  at 
the  other  end  of  an  archipelago  of  twelve  islands.  At  lower 
levels,  cliffs  would  still  be  washed  by  Atlantic  waves,  but 
Laxey  Glen  would  be  a  long  sea-loch. 

The  top  of  Snaefell  (2024  feet  according  to  maps,  a  little 
more  according  to  observation)  is  conical  but  rounded,  like 


172  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

all  the  other  hills  in  the  island.  It  is  strewed  with  large 
slabs  of  broken  slate  and  blocks  of  white  quartz,  apparently 
native  rocks.  Except  the  shape  of  the  hill  itself,  there  is  no 
indication  of  glacial  action  at  the  surface  near  the  top,  unless 
the  large  quartz  blocks  are  foreign.  The  hill  is  joined  to 
Mullagh  Oure  (Dun  Top)  by  a  col  which  is  about  1400  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  near  about  the  level  of  a  contour-line, 
which  is  seen  from  Douglas  Bay.  In  March  1864,  a  gravel- 
pit  made  for  a  new  road  gave  a  section  of  the  surface-beds. 
They  consist  of  blue  clay  with  broken  angular  slate  and 
grooved  stones,  covered  by  a  bed  of  peat  and  some  washings 
from,  the  hill.  The  rock  foundation  was  hidden.  The  grooved 
stones  prove  that  ice  moved  at  this  level  on  this  col.  The 
new  road  winds  along  the  hill-sides  for  several  miles,  keeping 
near  the  watershed  where  streams  part.  The  cutting  along 
the  road-way,  and  numerous  gravel-pits,  show  that  the  cap 
consists  chiefly  of  angular  stones  broken  out  of  the  hills,  but 
these  are  mingled  with  numerous  blocks  carried  from  some 
distant  place.  Large  angular  weathered  blocks  of  granular 
quartz  rock  are  the  most  numerous  ;  specimens  of  yellow  and 
red  sandstone  and  of  schorl  were  found  in  a  day's  walk,  and 
some  of  the  boulders  were  finely  polished  and  grooved. 

At  the  height  of  about  1100  feet,  on  a  shelf  which  is 
visible  from  Douglas  Harbour,  large  rounded  boulders  are 
common  in  fields,  in  cottage  walls,  and  elsewhere.  Though 
the  surface  has  been  destroyed  by  weathering  and  frosts,  there 
is  still  evidence  to  show  that  ice  floated  over  the  cols  where 
sandstone  was  dropped.  If  the  sea  were  now  to  rise  fifty 
feet,  it  would  cut  off  the  Mull  hills  at  Port  Erin.  If  it  rose 
500  feet,  it  would  sink  half  the  island  and  make  a  strait  at 
Douglas.  If  it  were  to  rise  to  1400  feet,  where  a  foreign 
boulder  now  marks  an  ancient  sea-level,  little  of  the  island 


ISLE  OF  MAN.  173 

would  remain  above  water  except  eleven  hill-tops  and  two 
long  ridges.  If  the  rise  were  general  in  the  British  Isles, 
nearly  the  whole  of  England  would  be  sunk,  and  the  nearest 
sandstone  island  left  above  water  would  be  in  Cumberland. 

At  the  south-western  end  of  the  hill  country,  granite  and 
other  boulders  are  strewed  on  the  hills  from  Peel  up  to  the 
verge  of  the  cliff  at  Brada  Head.  There  are  various  kinds, 
and  as  Manx  granite  appears  at  the  surface  in  two  places 
only,  some  of  these  must  be  wandering  blocks.  They  are 
found  at  400  feet  and  at  higher  levels.  The  people  say  that 
some  of  these  were  carried  by  Phynnodree,  or  Hairy  Breek, 
an  outcast  fairy  with  shaggy  goat's  hair  and  cloven  feet,  of 
whom  many  curious  Manx  tales  are  told.  One  block,  ac- 
cording to  popular  history,  was  hurled  by  Goddard  Crovan 
at  his  scolding  wife.  Fin  MacCool  and  his  warriors,  giants, 
and  Druids,  and  other  mysterious  people,  get  credit  for 
moving  these  mysterious  stones. 

The  country  about  Castletown  is  to  the  south-west  of  the 
hill  country,  and  would  be  sheltered  from  a  north-eastern 
current.  It  is  well  described  by  an  able  local  geologist.*" 

It  has  the  outward  form  of  a  plain  of  drift  packed  in  water. 
According  to  Mr.  Gumming,  it  is  a  bed  of  drift  containing 
bits  of  insular  rock,  fragments  of  the  coal-measures  of  Cum- 
berland, stones  from  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  chalk-flints 
which  may  have  travelled  from  Antrim,  but  which  may  also 
have  come  from  Denmark. 

This  bed  of  glacial  drift  rests  upon  limestone,  which  is 
striated  from  the  magnetic  E.,  say  E.  by  S.  Trains  of  boul- 
ders and  other  marks  indicate  an  ice-laden  current  moving 

*  TJie  Isle  of  Man,  its  History,  Physical,  Ecclesiastical,  Civil,  and'  Legend- 
ary. By  the  Rev.  George  Cumming.  London  :  John  Van  Voorst,  Pater- 
noster Row,  1848. 


174  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

from  the  Solway  Firth.  To  this  Mr.  Cuniming  attributes  the 
"  drift,"  and  the  ice-marks  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  He  adds,  "  The 
origin  of  such  a  current  is  at  present  a  mere  matter  of  specu- 
lation." He  suggests  that  the  chief  carrying  and  grinding 
agent  which  worked  on  these  low  grounds  was  floating  ice ; 
shore-ice,  land-ice,  and  icebergs  moved  by  tides  like  those 
which  now  pour  through  the  sound  of  Kitterland.  If  the  low 
grounds  about  Castletown  were  sunk,  and  the  sea  up  to  the 
highest  notch  on  the  Mull  hills,  the  same  tides  which  now 
flow  north  and  south  in  the  main  channel,  and  east  and  west 
in  the  small  cross  sound,  would  flow  east  and  west  over  Port 
Erin  and  the  limestone  district  of  Castletown.  But  if  the  sea 
were  up  to  1400  feet,  the  Solway  Firth  would  be  an  open 
strait,  and  a  deep  sea-way  would  be  open  through  Ireland 
along  the  curve  which  leads  from  Stavanger  to  Shannon.  The 
tidal  wave  which  now  splits  on  Ireland  would  pass  directly 
to  Norway  over  the  British  Isles,  and  ice-floats  would  move  in 
the  direction  of  ice-marks,  if  icebergs  moved  seaward  with  the 
ebb  or  south-westward  with  an  ocean-current  from  the  Baltic 
past  Cumberland  and  the  Hill  of  Dawn  in  the  Isle  of  Man. 

A  cast  up-stream  leads  to  the  Cumberland  hills.  Boulders 
abound  by  the  way-side,  along  the  railway  line  which  crosses 
this  tract.  The  mountains  are  very  much  ice-ground,  accord- 
ing to  those  who  have  examined  them,  and  in  all  probability 
a  local  glacier-system  once  radiated  from  the  watershed  of  this 
tract. 

In  the  lower  grounds,  between  Carlisle  and  Berwick,  drift 
and  ice-marks  abound.  The  trough  which  holds  the  two 
main  rivers  in  this  tract  follows  the  S.W.  curve,  and  in 
Geikie's  map  a  red  arrow  points  about  N.E.  When  hill-sides 
are  examined  at  about  1000  and  1500  feet  above  the  sea,  the 
arrows  will  probably  point  the  other  way. 


ISLE  OF  MAN.  175 

A  sweep  northwards  brings  the  line  to  that  curious  set  of 
curves  which  are  seen  in  the  low  lands  south  of  the  I'entlands, 
from  the  top  of  these  hills,  and  which  are  well  shown  upon 
the  Ordnance  map. 

A  sweep  southwards  brings  the  line  round  to  Morpeth. 
The  clay  which  covers  the  rock  near  Morpeth  and  Newcastle 
is  about  ten  yards  thick,  and  full  of  scratched  boulders.  In 
making  new  coal-pits  the  rock-surface  is  laid  bare,  and  it  is 
said  to  be  scored.  A  promised  rubbing  has  not  appeared,  but 
in  all  probability  the  marks  at  low  levels  point  south  on  the 
east  coast.  At  high  levels  they  ought  to  point  south-west  or 
thereby,  through  gaps  in  the  hills,  but  this  point  has  not  been 
made  good. 

On  the  other  side,  down-stream,  the  whole  physical  geo- 
graphy of  Ireland  is  based  upon  grooves  and  ridges,  rivers, 
lakes,  points,  and  sea-lochs,  pointing  south-westwrard.  Accord- 
ing to  Jukes  (Manual  of  Geology,  p.  680)— 

"  The  rocks  of  many  parts  of  Ireland,  especially  those  of  the  south- 
west corner  of  it,  exhibit  in  great  perfection  that  rounding  and  polish- 
ing which  glaciers  communicate  to  the  rocks  over  which  they  glide. 
So  perfectly  indeed  are  all,  even  the  hardest  rocks,  rounded  and 
smoothed,  that  the  very  universality  of  the  process  prevents  its  strik- 
ing an  eye  not  instructed  in  the  nature  of  the  phenomenon."  .  .  . 

"  The  surface  of  the  rocks  on  the  slopes  and  tops  of  the  hills  are 
traversed  also  by  glacial  strise."  .  .  . 

The  author  shows  that  Ireland  may  have  been  elevated 
during  the  glacial  period,  so  as  to  be  within  the  climate  of 
land-glaciers,  but  that  it  certainly  was  submerged  during  the 
glacial  period,  so  as  to  admit  of  the  passage  of  ice-floats  amongst 
a  group  of  Irish  islands.  "  At  2000  feet  below  the  present 
level,  a  few  small  islets  only  would  be  left." 

It  has  been  shown  above  that  ice  moved  in  a  south- 


176  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

westerly  direction,  over  the  tops  of  hills  in  Connemara,  one 
of  which  is  2000  feet  high.  The  map  of  Ireland,  reduced  from 
the  Ordnance  Survey,  shows  that  the  whole  island  is  grooved 
in  the  same  direction,  and  the  shape  of  it  corresponds  to  the 
shape  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 

So  a  cast  round  the  centre  of  the  British  Isles  helps  to  swell 
the  bag  of  facts,  and  feed  the  Baltic  Current  with  a  heavy 
feast  of  hard  stones,  tough  facts,  and  fossil  floods  of  iced- 
water. 


CHAPTEK    XL. 

BALTIC  CURRKNT  13 — BRITISH  ISLES  12 — YORKSHIRE 
AND  WALES,  ETC. 

A  CURVE  begun  in  Novaya  Zemlya,  and  drawn  over  Lapland, 
near  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Kandalaksha  in  the  White  Sea, 
passes  near  Tornea,  runs  down  the  Swedish  coast  to  Sunds- 
vall,  touches  Christiania  and  Christiansand,  and  lands  at 
Whitby.  It  crosses  Yorkshire,  passes  Manchester  and  Liver- 
pool, and  passes  behind  Snowdon  into  Cardigan  Bay,  skirt- 
ing the  coast  of  Ireland  from  Wexford  to  Cape  Clear. 

Part  of  the  country  has  been  described  above  (chap.  xiv. 
to  xx.),  and  there  ice-marks  point  to  a  current  moving 
south-westwards.  In  Lyell's  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  270, 
glacial  phenomena  in  Ireland  are  described,  and  the  geolo- 
gical survey  and  former  writers  are  quoted. 

Signs  of  glaciation  have  been  traced  to  elevations  of  2500 
feet  in  the  Killarney  district.  Marine  shells  have  rarely 
been  met  with  higher  than  600  feet  above  the  sea,  and  that 
chiefly  in  gravel  clay  and  sand  in  Wicklow  and  Wexford. 
Above  2500  feet,  rocks  are  rough,  below  that  elevation 
smooth,  and  "  drift"  has  been  traced  as  high  as  1500  feet  on 
hills  which  reach  to  3400  feet.  Taking  the  symbols  used 
above,  the  form  A  characteristic  of  weathering,  is  characteristic 
of  Irish  hills  down  to  a  level  of  2500  feet.  Below  that  level  the 
characteristic  form  is  -- — v.  At  1500  feet  drift  is  deposited  ; 
VOL.  n.  N 


178  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES. 

at  600  feet  are  sea-shells  of  arctic  type  in  beds  of  gravel. 
Except  in  a  few  cases,  the  transport  of  erratics  is  southwards 
and  westwards,  and  the  prevailing  trend  of  mountain-ranges 
is  south-westwards.  Sir  C.  Lyell's  map,  p.  278,  is  the  best  of 
its  kind,  and  it  shows  that  currents  moving  through  the 
British  Isles  at  a  level  of  600  feet,  and  governed  by  the 
same  laws  which  affect  the  present  run  of  tides,  might  pass 
along  part  of  the  curves  which  have  been  followed  thus  far. 

At  1500  feet,  Lapland  would  be  under  water,  and  the  way 
open  from  Novaya  Zemlya  to  Wicklow,  if  the  submergence 
were  general  in  this  tract  of  Europe.  Keith  Johnston's  map 
(plate  10,  Physical  Atlas}  shows  that  volcanic  disturbance  has 
affected  areas  of  equal  size  in  modern  times. 

If  the  climate  was  cold  when  the  districts  above  men- 
tioned were  under  water  ;  if  glaciers  grew  in  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, and  the  Isle  of  Man  ;  then  it  is  probable  that  climate  in 
p]ngland  was  cold  at  the  same  time,  and  English  hills  ought  to 
retain  ice-marks. 

In  Yorkshire  is  a  hilly  tract  where  the  highest  points  are 
about  2000  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  country  is  composed  of  beds  of  sandstone,  shale,  car- 
boniferous limestone,  and  suchlike  rocks ;  disposed  horizon- 
tally, but  broken  and  shattered  and  bent,  dislocated  and 
upheaved  in  many  places.  Where  a  stream  of  running  water 
has  made  a  bed  in  the  rocks,  it  has  generally  cut  a  deep  trench 
with  steep  or  perpendicular  sides,  or  the  banks  have  fallen 
so  as  to  leave  a  slope  of  talus  under  a  cliff.  But  the  whole 
district  is  furrowed  by  deep  glens  whose  rounded  form  bears 
no  sort  of  resemblance  to  the  beds  of  streams  and  torrents 
which  flow  through  them,  or  fall  into  them.  A  section 
across  one  of  the  Yorkshire  dales  is  like  a  section  of  an 
Icelandic  glen — a  sweeping  curve,  not  a  steep  trench — and  the 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  179 

sides  are  terraced  ;  each  terrace  corresponding  to  a  bed  of  rock. 
The  dales  are  deep  grooves  winding  in  long  sweeping  curves, 
like  dales  which  now  contain  glaciers  elsewhere  ;  the  hills 

are  rounded  x — s,  the  glens  grooves  v s  ;  the  terraced  sides 

are  like  coasts  represented  in  Parry's  Voyages  to  Baffin's  Sea. 
These,  also,  are  composed  of  beds  which  are  nearly  horizontal, 
and  are  now  undergoing  denudation  by  weathering  and  ice, 
and  there  glaciers  flow  through  glens  with  terraced  sides. 

No  small  ice-grooves  were  found  in  a  rapid  journey 
through  the  Yorkshire  hills,  but  sandstone  and  limestone 
weather  so  fast  that  fine  tool-marks  speedily  wear  out.  The 
dales  themselves  remain,  and  they  are  full  of  patches  of 
drift, — of  ridges,  mounds,  banks,  and  hills  of  foreign  boul- 
ders, sand,  and  clay. 

In  some  glens,  as  in  Wharfdale,  small  terraces  like  those 
which  occur  at  Melar  in  Iceland  sweep  along  the  hill-sides. 
They  are  not  horizontal,  so  they  are  not  beaches  or  water- 
marks ;  they  are  not  the  edges  of  strata,  like  terraces  above 
them  ;  they  are  about  the  size  of  vine-terraces,  which  are 
made  on  hill-sides  near  the  Ehine,  and  they  sweep  round 
hollows  and  promontories  in  green  fields,  like  works  of  art. 
Where  a  river  has  cut  through  them,  their  section  shows 
loose  gravel,  sand,  clay,  and  stones,  disposed  like  broad  steps 
upon  the  rocky  foundation  of  the  hollowed  dale. 

If  a  local  system  of  land-glaciers  filled  upper  glens,  and  a 
general  system  of  currents  worked  in  from  the  north-east — 
while  tides  floated  field- ice,  land-ice,  and  icebergs  up  and 
down,  pushing  gravel  along  the  bottom — the  forms  of  these 
glens,  and  of  small  terraces  in  them,  might  be  explained  by 
the  known  effects  of  ice  elsewhere. 

These  dales  were  hollowed  out  by  some  wearing  process  ; 
for  beds  of  stone  can  be  followed  from  glen  to  glen,  and 


180  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

from  bill  to  hill,  round,  and  even  through  the  hills  in  the 
mines. 

They  are  not  the  work  of  rivers  ;  for  denudation  by 
running  water  is  very  well  exemplified  at  the  lead-washing 
floors,  and  the  work  differs. 

In  one  process  lead-ore  and  vein-stone  are  crushed  to 
powder,  and  washed  by  a  stream  through  a  funnel  into  the 
centre  of  a  shallow  pit.  A  machine  revolves  in  the  pit, 
sweeping  the  surface  of  the  fallen  mud  with  a  heavy  coarse 
cloth,  so  as  to  give  it  time  to  separate  according  to  comparative 
weight.  Heavy  lead-ore  sinks  first  and  fastest ;  lighter  mi- 
nerals roll  further,  and  sink  slower ;  and  when  the  operation 
is  finished,  there  remains  a  stratified  convex  mound,  whose 
outline  is  a  regular  curve  <> — s.  When  water  is  poured  upon 
the  top  of  this  dome,  it  cuts  miniature  glens  in  the  sides  of 
the  hillock  of  sediment,  as  rivers  do  through  hills  of  sand- 
stone ;  and  each  glen  has  its  delta.  If  rivers  dug  out  the 
Yorkshire  dales,  their  forms  ought  to  agree  with  these.  The 
miniature  glens  are,  in  fact,  very  like  the  beds  of  torrents 
in  the  country  ;  but  they  are  wrholly  unlike  the  dales  in  which 
the  torrents  flow. 

Form  asserts  the  agency  of  glaciers  and  ocean-currents, 
and  denies  the  agency  of  rivers  in  the  large  denudation  of 
the  Yorkshire  dales.  The  tool-marks  are  like  those  of  frost 
elsewhere.  As  shown  above,  a  theoretical  curve  leads  near 
Christiania,  and  there  the  long  groove  of  Gulbrandsdal  runs 
up  to  the  watershed  of  Norway  at  the  Dovre  Fjeld.  The  general 
shape  of  the  big  Norwegian  dale  is  very  like  that  of  the 
smaller  dales  of  Yorkshire. 

Stoke. — About  Stoke,  the  English  watershed  is  370  or 
400  feet  above  the  sea.  The  rocks  belong  to  the  coal-for- 
mation, but  a  few  granite  boulders  are  strewed  about  the 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  181 

fields.  No  other  ice-marks  were  found;  but  the  country 
is  thickly  peopled  and  highly  cultivated  ;  the  rock  buried 
under  beds  of  clay  and  sand.  Minton  makes  china  and 
encaustic  tiles  of  glacial  chips,  while  coals  and  iron  are 
dug  from  beds  1200  feet  below  the  sea-level,  where  the 
temperature  is  68°  in  the  coal,  and  the  temperature  outside 
about  49°. 

This  land  was  above  water  when  the  coals  were  plants 
growing  in  air  ;  it  was  under  water  when  sand  was  poured 
over  the  bed  of  peat ;  it  has  been  up  and  down  while  1500 
feet  of  coal-formation  beds  were  deposited.  The  whole  series 
of  rocks  has  been  hardened  and  tilted  bodily  up  and  broken  ; 
and  the  broken  surface  has  been  worn  smooth  and  furrowed. 
The  worn  surface  was  surely  under  water  when  the  drift  and 
clay  were  dropped  there  ;  and  the  granite  boulder  records  the 
passage  of  ice  at  this  point  on  the  curve. 

The  railway  gives  the  line  of  lowest  level,  and  here  Brad- 
shaw's  Railway  Guide  and  a  net  of  iron  roads  carry  the  curve 
in  any  direction ;  for  there  are  no  hills  about  Stoke. 

Manchester  and  Liverpool. — At  a  late  meeting  of  the  Man- 
chester Geological  Society,  glaciated  rocks  were  described. 

These  occur  on  Bidston  Hill  and  elsewhere  near  Liverpool, 
at  a  level  of  about  200  feet.  The  direction  was  N.  and  S.,  E. 
and  W.,  N.W.  and  S.E.  Amongst  these  low  hills,  currents 
might  flow  in  any  direction,  as  tides  do  amongst  the  banks  off 
Liverpool,  at  various  states  of  the  tide. 

Cheshire — The  railway  map  gives  a  veiy  intricate  pattern 
in  Cheshire.  The  country  is  high  and  varied  by  round  hills. 
Hartford  station  is  about  270  feet  above  London.  The  low 
grounds  are  covered  with  water-worn  drift,  in  which  sea-shells 
are  found.  Amongst  the  stones  are  granite,  chalk-flints,  green- 
stones, and  various  hard  rocks.  Large  blocks  of  granite,  with 


182  BALTIC  CUKEENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

fresh  ice-marks  on  them,  are  found,  and  many  are  broken  up 
and  used. 

The  village  of  Eaton  stands  on  a  hill  of  bare  rock,  which 
is  new  red  sandstone  disposed  in  horizontal  beds.  Several 
large  blocks  of  granite  and  greenstone  are  placed  by  the  road- 
side, near  wells,  and  at  corners.  On  some  of  them  the  polish 
is  well  preserved,  and  grooves  are  fresh.  On  the  top  of  the 
hill,  in  a  sandy  lane,  a  small  boulder  of  green  porphyry  was 
found.  It  was  about  the  size  of  a  small  turnip,  subangular, 
and  with  a  perfect  surface  grooved  on  three  sides.  The  shape 
of  the  rounded  sandstone  hills  bears  no  relation  to  dip,  fracture, 
or  bedding.  They  are  carved  out  by  some  engine,  and  ice 
certainly  passed  over  the  hills  at  Eaton.  The  top  of  the  hill 
is  340  feet  above  Oulton.  Hollows  seem  to  run  E.  and  W. 
The  cap  of  the  quarry  consists  of  broken  flags  and  sand. 
Other  boulders  of  granite  and  gray  quartz  with  perfect  sur- 
faces were  found  in  a  garden  ;  and  this  was  the  owner's 
account  of  them  : — 

"  Them  is  what  we  call  marble  stones  ;  they  grow  in  the 
yearth,  especially  in  places  where  they  are  bringing  in  new 
ground.  You  see  the  yearth  produces  all  sorts  of  things  for 
the  good  of  man.  The  top  produces  all  manner  of  vegetables, 
and  underneath  there 's  all  sorts  of  mines  and  minerals  for  the 
good  of  man,  and  these  stones  grow  in  the  yearth  amongst  the 
sand." 

So  spoke  the  village  sage. 

The  sand  seems  to  tell  of  cold  tides  flowing  in  the  Vale  of 
Chester,  for  sand-pits  show  mounds  of  contorted  sand-beds, 
whose  foldings  are  hard  to  unravel,  unless  they  were  frozen 
and  melted  like  the  sand-heap  mentioned  above  (vol.  i.  p. 
380).  A  fringe  of  crystal  ice  hung  in  a  sandstone  quarry, 
and  a  brittle  crust  of  thin  flat  ice  on  the  mill-dam,  was  all 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  183 

that  remained  of  Cheshire  ice ;  but  mental  eyes  looked  over 
the  water  to  Hamilton  Inlet,  and  saw  the  pictures  which 
other  men  have  drawn. 

At  Northwich  numerous  boulders  of  large  size,  specimens 
of  granite,  greenstones,  and  other  hard  rocks,  are  set  up  in  the 
town.  In  fields  near  the  town  heaps  of  small  boulders  occur. 

The  whole  town  is  sinking  from  the  constant  waste  of  the 
brine  springs.  About  a  million  of  tons  of  salt  pay  canal 
dues  every  year.  In  one  dry  mine  the  salt  is  quarried  for  a 
depth  of  thirteen  feet,  in  an  area  of  twenty-three  acres. 

The  temperature  is  51°  at  all  seasons.  The  heat  of  the 
earth  below,  and  the  weight  of  cold  air  above,  together  pro- 
duce a  constant  movement  of  air.  It  rises  up  one  shaft  and 
falls  down  another.  A  greater  difference  of  temperature 
evaporates  water  in  the  salt-pans.  Steam  rises  and  water 
falls.  Steam  in  the  boiler  lifts  the  piston  of  the  steam- 
engine  which  pumps  up  the  brine,  and  lifts  and  lowers  the 
miners  and  their  millions  of  tons  of  salt.  The  same  heat- 
power,  set  to  lift  Cheshire  and  evaporate  the  sea ;  the  same 
weight-power,  set  to  condense  steam  and  lower  the  earth's 
crust ;  the  same  natural  powers  which  men  chain  to  their 
wheels — seem  strong  enough  to  work  the  natural  engine  which 
ground  and  polished  granite  boulders,  and  carried  them  to 
Northwich. 

It  is  plain  that  ice  travelled  here,  it  is  equally  plain  that 
low  ice-marks  will  not  unravel  the  ice-problem.  The  Che- 
shire boulders  did  not  come  from  Wales  or  Yorkshire.  They 
may  have  come  out  of  Cumberland,  but  it  is  possible  that  they 
came  from  Sweden  or  Lapland,  because  zircon  syenite  was 
found  in  Galloway  by  Jameson,  and  at  Christiania  and  in 
Lapland  by  Von  Buch,  and  because  boulders  are  on  the 
watershed  of  England,  about  Stoke. 


184 


BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 


...,-  has  been  mapped  by  the 
Ordnance,  and  surveyed  by 
geologists ;  it  is  the  scene 
of  Sir  Roderick  Murchi- 
son's  discoveries,  and  classic 
ground.  In  the  book  of 
,  the  Alpine  Club*  the  glacial 
phenomena  of  Wales  are 
described  by  Professor  Ram- 
say, who  states  his  own 

S  W  ^i/  views,  which  coincided  with 

Fu,  8.,  those  of  the   best  modern 

geologists. 

It  seems  to  be  admitted  that  sea-ice  stranded  drift 
amongst  the  Welsh  hills  at  a  height  of  about  2300  feet,  that 
local  land-glaciers  ploughed  out  the  drift  when  the  land  rose ; 
but  no  attempt  seems  yet  to  have  been  made  to  account  for 
the  change  of  climate  which  destroyed  the  Welsh  glaciers 
and  turned  winter  to  spring.  If  England  were  submerged 
2300  feet,  then  the  nearest  land  to  the  north-east  would  be 
Scandinavia,  and  a  way  open  for  the  curve  whose  direction  is 
shown  on  the  woodcut. 

The  Principality  is  an  oblong  block  of  high  land 
whose  four  sides  face  the  cardinal  points.  The  corner  next 
Liverpool  faces  the  north-east,  the  point  from  which  an  arctic 
current  now  flows  in  the  same  latitudes  beyond  the  sea, 

The  corner  near  Milford  Haven  faces  the  south-west,  the 
point  from  which  the  tides  come  now ;  from  which  the 
equatorial  Gulf  Stream  flows  towards  our  coast,  and  from 
which  it  is  assumed  that  a  prevailing  equatorial  current  of 
air  has  blown  ever  since  there  was  an  atmosphere,  and  will 

*  Peaks,  Passes,  and  Glaciers  of  the  High  Alps.     Longman,  1857. 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  185 

continue  to  blow  till  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  laws 
which  govern  its  movements  are  changed. 

The  north-western  corner  of  the  block  is  Anglesea,  and  the 
south-eastern  is  rounded  off  by  the  Severn  valley. 

If  a  north-east  stream  flowed  from  the  Cumberland  and 
Yorkshire  hills,  it  would  cross  two  corners  diagonally  as  south- 
western gales  do.  If  the  wearing  power  moved  from  the  south- 
west, then  the  soft  rocks  of  South  Wales  ought  to  bear  the 
strongest  marks  of  abrasion. 

In  fact  the  coal-beds  are  most  ground  away  at  the  north- 
east side  of  Wales. 

From  the  western  side  of  the  block  the  hollow  of  Car- 
digan Bay  seems  at  first  sight  to  have  been  scooped  out  in  a 
north-easterly  direction  by  south-west  waves.  In  looking  at 
a  map  where  land  only  is  marked,  we  are  apt  to  forget  that 
the  sea  is  but  land  covered  with  water.  A  sea-coast  line  is 
therefore  commonly  mentioned  as  a  form  resulting  from 
marine  denudation,  a  curved  line  produced  by  sea-waves  act- 
ing unequally  upon  rocks  of  various  hardness.  It  seems  to 
be  assumed  that  a  hollow  curve  like  Cardigan  Bay  was  very 
slowly  scooped  out  of  the  edge  of  a  block  of  high  land  by 
the  great  rollers  which  still  sweep  in  from  the  south-west. 
If  Cardigan  Bay  were  simply  ocean-work  of  this  kind,  the 
whole  coast-line  would  retain  the  tool-marks  of  waves. 
The  rocks  would  be  steep,  broken,  and  angular,  like  the 
precipice  which  overhangs  .the  sea  at  Aberystwith.  There 
would  be  heaps  of  fallen  debris  and  beaches  of  rolled  stones 
beneath  a  bold  coast-line,  for  sea-waves  can  only  act  between 
wind  and  water. 

The  sea  does  wear  away  this  land,  but  it  works  as  a  pond 
does,  by  undermining  and  breaking  down  its  banks. 

The  form  of  Cardigan  Bay  is  not  wholly  due  to  the  slow 


186  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

action  of  Atlantic  waves,  for  the  coast  is  not  generally  pre- 
cipitous. The  coast-line  is  due  to  the  surface-form  of  the 
land,  whose  valleys  and  ridges  stretch  out  under  the  sea, 
and  Cardigan  Bay  is  part  of  a  large  hollow.  The  surface  of 
denudation  has  been  broken  through  by  sea-waves  at  many 
places  at  the  sea-level,  and  there  are  many  sea-cliffs ;  but  the 
rock-surface  has  been  preserved  elsewhere,  and  the  bottom  of 
Cardigan  Bay  is  but  a  continuation  of  the  rocks  of  Wales. 
In  particular,  at  the  head  of  Cardigan  Bay  a  series  of  deep 
glens  are  continued  under  water  ;  and  if  the  fifteen-fathom 
line  were  the  coast-line,  there  would  still  be  a  long  fjord  off 
Portmadoc,  running  N.E.  and  S.W.  as  the  glens  do  on  shore. 

Tradition. — Modern  geologists  are  rapidly  nearing  a  con- 
clusion at  which  many  have  arrived.  It  is  held  that  men,  and 
certain  large  animals  which  no  longer  exist — great  hairy 
elephants,  rhinoceroses,  elks,  cave-bears,  and  other  such  crea- 
tures— existed  together  in  parts  of  Great  Britain  and  in  France, 
at  a  time  when  the  climate  of  these  countries  was  at  least  as 
cold  as  it  is  now  in  the  same  latitudes  on  the  Labrador  coast. 

The  oldest  of  the  races  who  now  inhabit  Western  France 
and  the  British  Isles  are  admitted  to  be  Lapps,  Basques,  Celts, 
and  Cymri.  If  geologists  are  right,  the  ancestors  of  these 
races  may  possibly  have  lived  in  the  end  of  the  cold  period 
where  their  descendants  now  live ;  or  they  may  have  found 
older  races  there,  whose  ancestors  had  hunted  hairy  elephants 
and  wild  bulls  amongst  glaciers  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
Wales.  The  race  may  have  witnessed  great  changes  in  sea 
and  land.  Lapps  have  traditions  about  giants  and  big  beasts. 
About  Basque  traditions  little  has  been  published,  and  that 
little  does  not  bear  upon  this  subject. 

There  are  several  collections  of  Celtic  traditions.  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  quotes  some  British  stories  in  his  Principles  of 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  187 

Geology,  and  another  geologist  is  about  to  publish  a  collection 
of  Cornish  tales.  In  Cornwall  Celtic  traditions,  which  seem 
to  record  changes  of  sea-level,  abound.  Celtic  and  Scandina- 
vian traditions,  as  the  oldest  of  western  traditions  yet  col- 
lected, may  bear  upon  late  geological  changes  in  the  west. 

Charts  which  give  the  depth  of  the  sea,  such  as  Keith 
Johnston's  (plate  6),  show;  that  a  very  slight  rise  or  fall  of  land 
or  sea  would  now  alter  the  outline  of  Wales  very  materially. 
If  the  land  were  to  sink  ninety  feet,  Aberystwith  would  be 
under  water,  and  the  church-steeple  awash  in  the  middle  of 
a  fjord  ten  or  twelve  miles  long.  If  the  sinking  were  general, 
the  majority  of  Welshmen  and  Welsh  towns  would  share  the 
same  fate  ;  and  if  the  land  has  in  fact  sunk  that  much,  the 
evidence  has  sunk  with  it. 

If  the  land  were  now  to  rise  ninety  feet,  so  as  to  make  the 
line  of  fifteen  fathoms  the  coast-line,  great  part  of  the  land  now 
under  water  in  Cardigan  Bay  would  become  dry  land,  and 
rounded  rocky  islands  and  points  which  now  slope  away 
beneath  the  water-line  would  be  rocky  knolls  and  ridges, 
like  those  which  rise  up  through  drift  and  peat-moss  in 
every  Welsh  glen. 

If  like  changes  were  now  to  take  place  in  Brittany,  the 
coast-line  would  alter  as  much  or  more  in  that  region.  When 
land  has  risen  from  the  sea,  the  evidence  remains  for  those 
who  will  accept  it ;  and  in  Wales  the  evidence  shows  that 
land  has  risen  about  2300  feet  since  Snowdon  was  a  mountain. 
Sea-shells  have  been  found  in  the  loose  soil  at  a  height  of 
1392  feet,  according  to  Professor  Eamsay ;  and  at  1630  feet, 
according  to  Keith  Johnston's  Atlas ;  and,  according  to  Sir 
C.  Lyell,  stratified  drift-beds  exist  still  higher.  If  these  great 
changes  of  level  took  place  suddenly,  rapidly,  or  even 
gradually,  by  fits  and  starts,  at  a  time  when  there  were 


188  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

ancient  Britons  and  ancient  Gauls,  memorable  disasters  might 
result,  which  tradition  may  yet  vaguely  remember. 

In  Wales  and  in  Brittany  there  are,  in  fact,  many  tradi- 
tions which  seem  to  point  to  such  geological  changes  as  a 
sinking  of  land  ;  to  great  disasters,  and  to  the  existence  of 
animals  which  have  passed  away  ;  and  in  all  works  on  geology 
evidence  is  given  to  support  these  traditions. 

In  Wales  it  is  told  that  Cardigan  Bay  covers  a  land  which 
was  thickly  peopled  by  a  wicked  race  who  were  overwhelmed 
by  the  sea,  and  sunken  forests  are  at  the  sea-margin  in 
Ireland. 

In  Brittany,  according  to  the  popular  tale,*  the  wicked 
Princess  Dahut,  the  daughter  of  King  Grallon,  and  all  her 
court,  were  overwhelmed  in  the  city  of  Keris,  near  Quimper, 
which  stood  "  where  now  you  see  the  Bay  of  Douarnenez," 
near  Brest.  King  Grallon  was  a  good  man,  and  he  was  saved 
by  a  saint,  whom  he  had  made  a  bishop.  The  author  of  the 
Foyer  Breton  maintains  in  a  note  that  the  ruins  of  a  town 
yet  exist  under  water  between  the  Cap  de  la  Chevre  and  the 
Pointe  du  Raz. 

In  Normandy  it  is  told  that  the  tenure  by  which  a  certain 
abbot  held  his  land  was  the  service  of  laying  a  plank  for  his 
superior  to  walk  over  from  Jersey  to  the  mainland  of  France. 
Mont  St.  Michel,  it  is  said,  was  in  a  great  forest  when  its 
owner  went  to  the  wars ;  when  he  returned,  he  found  it  a 
rock  in  a  wide  plain  of  sea-sand.  The  church  on  the  top 
saved  the  rock  from  the  destruction  which  overwhelmed  the 
wicked  plain.  There  appears  to  be  some  geological  evidence 
for  the  existence  of  the  drowned  forest. 

In  England  there  is  a  tradition  that  merchandise  was 
carried  on  horseback  from  Winchester  to  Puckaster  Cove  in 

*  Foyer  Breton,  vol.  i.  p.  232. 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  189 

the  Isle  of  Wight.  But  there  is  good  evidence  to  prove  that 
no  great  change  of  sea-level  has  taken  place  since  the  Roman 
invasion. 

In  Ireland  the  good  O'Donoghue  rises  once  a  year,  in  May 
morning,  and  rides  in  procession  along  the  smooth  surface  of 
the  Lake  of  Killarney ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  to  support  him. 

Near  the  Isle  of  Man,  Fin  MacCool  and  his  sunken 
country  rise  once  in  seven  years  to  the  surface,  and  sink 
down  again  ;  but  if  any  one  could  cast  a  Bible  on  the  land, 
the  good  old  times  of  Fin  and  his  heroes  would  return,  and 
his  land  would  remain  above  water.  Geologists  suppose  that 
the  channel  was  in  fact  dry  when  big  elks  lived  in  the  Isle 
of  Man,  where  skeletons  have  been  found  entire. 

In  Scotland  there  are  endless  traditions  of  the  same  kind. 
Tales  of  castles,  towns,  and  houses  sunk  beneath  the  waves, 
and  visible  in  calm  weather ;  of  islands  which  appear  upon 
the  western  horizon,  and  sink  down  again  ;  of  lands  where  no 
land  is,  discovered  in  a  thick  fog  by  sailors,  who  find  grand- 
looking  stalwart  men  drinking  ale  from  vast  cups.  They  are 
the  ancient  mythical  heroes  in  the  "  land  of  youth,"  and  the 
"green  isle,"  and  the  "land  under  the  waves;"  and  who  rise 
from  time  to  time  to  show  what  men  used  to  be,  and  what 
they  still  are  in  "  Flathinnis,"  the  abode  of  heroes. 

In  Ireland,  as  in  every  Celtic  country,  the  same  tales  of 
land  rising  and  sinking  abound  in  endless  variety  ;  and  they 
prevailed  in  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  for  they  are  recorded 
by  Giraldus  Cambrensis  as  facts. 

In  Scandinavia,  the  wicked  city  is  not  droumed,  but  seven 
parishes  are  smothered  under  snow  and  ice,  and  the  church- 
bells  may  still  be  heard  ringing  under  the  glaciers  of  the 
Folge  Fond. 

Similar  traditions  of  ancient  kings — Barbarossa,  Arthur, 


190  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

etc. — enchanted,  with  all  their  warriors,  ready  to  come  forth  to 
battle  when  summoned,  prevail  all  over  Europe,  wherever 
popular  tales  have  been  collected.  These  myths  seem  to 
resolve  themselves  into  a  belief  in  a  spirit-land ;  and  many 
incidents  seem  to  be  borrowed  from  Holy  Writ.  But  popular 
imagination  has  dressed  the  model  in  picturesque  drapery, 
and  the  figures  are  often  placed  in  landscapes  painted  from 
nature  at  home. 

The  inhabitants  of  central  Europe,  and  Teutonic  races 
who  came  late  to  England,  place  their  mythical  heroes  under 
ground  in  caves,  in  vaults  beneath  enchanted  castles,  or  in 
mounds  which  rise  up  and  open,  and  show  their  buried  inha- 
bitants alive  and  busy  about  the  avocations  of  earthly  men. 
They  find  their  heroes  where  they  placed  their  bodies — under 
ground. 

The  Celtic  races  who  came  early  to  the  west,  and  to  the 
coast-line,  place  Arthur  and  Fionn,  Merlin  and  Ossian,  and 
all  their  following  of  bards  and  warriors,  and  those  who 
have  inherited  their  attributes,  in  islands,  in  lakes,  or  in  a 
land  beneath  the  waves  of  the  sea.  Perhaps  they  find  them 
where  they  lost  them  or  placed  their  bodies.* 

In  Morayshire,  the  buried  race  are  supposed  to  be  under 
the  sandhills,  as  they  are  in  some  parts  of  Brittany  ;  and  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  marks  of  ancient  cultivation  constantly  appear 
in  the  trough  of  the  sand-waves  of  Moray.  Where  the 
adjuncts  of  a  myth  fit  the  country  and  the  facts  in  so 
many  known  ways,  they  probably  fit  equally  well  in  the 
matter  of  unknown  change  in  a  coast-line. 

If  Wales  sunk  ninety  feet,  after  men  had  taken  possession 
of  it,  the  line  of  fifteen  fathoms  marks  off  a  tract  of  low 

*  The  savage  inhabitants  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  sink  their  dead  in  deep  water, 
according  to  Admiral  Fitzroy. 


YOEKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  191 

country  more  than  twenty  miles  wide,  which  was  drowned 
in  Cardigan  Bay,  as  Welsh  tradition  relates.  If  France  went 
down  as  much  after  a  town  was  built  at  the  end  of  a  valley 
near  Brest,  the  town  was  drowned  as  Aberystwith  would  be, 
and  the  valley  became  a  bay  as  the  Breton  tale  describes. 
If  ocean-currents  change  places,  and  climates  are  transferred 
for  a  time,  flourishing  valleys  and  mountain  pastures  might 
become  the  beds  of  glaciers  and  snow-heaps,  as  the  Scandina- 
vians tell.  The  Justedal  glaciers  have  in  fact  advanced  and 
retired  again  a  short  distance,  and  Swiss  glaciers  have  done 
the  same  in  modern  times. 

All  these  mythical  disasters  may  be,  and  very  probably 
are,  records  of  real  events,  witnessed  by  men,  and  related  by 
generation  to  generation  ;  though  the  wickedness  of  the 
people,  the  miracles,  the  marvels,  and  the  religious  features 
of  the  story  as  now  told,  may  have  been  invented  or  added 
when  Christianity  was  first  taught  to  a  rude  people.  If  Wales 
were  to  sink  ninety  feet  now,  the  survivors  on  the  mountains 
would  be  apt  to  quote  the  destruction  of  the  u  cities  of  the 
plain"  as  a  parallel  to  the  destruction  of  Welsh  watering- 
places,  where  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  are  strangers 
who  cannot  speak  Welsh. 

In  the  case  of  extinct  animals,  tradition  may  be  true  also. 

There  is  a  widely-spread  popular  tale,  common  to  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  and  told  with  many  variations.  The  gist  of  it 
is,  that  in  the  days  of  Fionn  there  were  deer  and  birds  far 
larger  than  any  which  now  exist. 

Ossian,  it  is  said,  when  old  and  blind,  lived  in  the  house 
of  his  father-in-law,  or  in  the  house  of  St.  Patrick,  and  they 
were  busily  writing  down  all  he  had  to  tell  them  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Feinne.  But  no  one  would  believe  what  he  said 
about  the  strength  of  the  men,  and  the  size  of  the  deer,  the 


192  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

birds,  the  leaves,  and  the  rolls  of  butter,  that  there  were  in 
the  "  Feinne,"  the  country  and  age  of  Fionn. 

To  convince  the  unbelievers,  the  last  of  the  old  race 
prayed  that  he  might  have  one  more  day's  hunting,  and  his 
prayer  was  heard.  A  boy  and  a  dog,  the  worst  of  their  class, 
came  to  him  in  the  night,  and  with  them  he  went  to  some 
unknown  glen.*  There,  with  many  strange  incidents,  it  is  told 
how  they  found  a  whistle  and  a  store  of  arms,  and  a  great 
caldron,  and  how  the  blind  hero  collected  deer  and  birds  by 
sounding  his  whistle,  or  horn,  or  "  dord."  Deer  came  as  big 
as  houses,  or  birds  as  big  as  oxen.  Guided  by  the  boy  his 
hand  drew  the  bow  and  slew  the  quarry,  and  when  the  chase 
was  done  they  dined  as  heroes  used  to  dine.  A  hind-quarter 
was  brought  home,  and  the  bone  of  an  ox  went  round  about 
in  the  marrow-hole  of  the  shank  of  the  creature  which  Ossian 
had  brought  from  the  "  Feinne."  With  endless  variations, 
this  story  is  told  all  over  Ireland  and  Scotland  ;  and  it  is 
firmly  believed  by  a  very  large  class  of  her  Majesty's 
Celtic  subjects  in  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  that  there 
were  giants  and  monstrous  animals  in  the  days  of  King 
Arthur  and  of  Fionn.  There  is  no  geological  evidence  yet  for 
gigantic  men,  but  peat-bogs,  gravel,  and  caves,  are  full  of  the 
bones  of  beasts  as  big  as  a  small  haystack;  and  the  word 
used  in  the  tale,  "  Con,"  means  "  Elk"  as  well  as  bird. 

In  beds  of  superficial  drift,  in  caves,  in  peat,  clay,  and 
gravel,  near  Torquay,  in  Wales,  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  in  Ire- 
land and  in  Scotland,  bones  of  big  British  beasts  have  been 
found.  Amongst  them  are — cave-bears  larger  than  any 
living  species,  tigers  twice  the  size  of  those  of  Bengal,  ele- 
phants twice  as  large  as  those  commonly  found  in  Africa 

*  The  glen  is  pointed  out  in  Sutherland,  near  Dnpplin,  and  at  interme- 
diate spots. 


YORKSHIRE  AND   WALES,  ETC.  193 

and  Ceylon,  two  large  species  of  rhinoceros,  hippopotami  as 
bulky  as  those  of  Africa,  great  cave-hysenas  and  lions,  elk  as 
tall  as  horses,  gigantic  oxen,  reindeer  of  the  ordinary  size, 
and  big  red-deer  with  horns  like  wapiti.  Did  these  or  some 
or  all  of  them  live  within  the  memory  of  human  tradition  ? 

Tradition  seems  to  remember  big  beasts  and  ice-clad 
mountains,  philosophy  finds  human  bones  so  placed  as  to 
support  tradition.  The  ruins  of  a  drowned  town  support 
the  Breton  tale  which  describes  its  destruction.  Thus  legends 
rest  upon  piles  of  old  bones  ;  tradition  and  geology  support 
each  other,  and  point  the  same  way.  Two  separate  and 
very  different  routes  lead  back  to  a  time  when  men  and 
elephants  were  drowned  by  changes  in  the  level  of  sea  and 
land,  in  countries  now  inhabited  by  Celts  and  Cymri,  and 
the  last  discovery  in  France  brings  men  who  could  carve 
good  pictures  of  reindeer,  and  bones  of  reindeer  of  large  size, 
into  one  place,  where  bones  and  works  of  human  art  are 
enclosed  in  slabs  of  stalagmite. 

If  the  block  of  land  which  is  now  Wales  has  been  up  and 
down,  under  water,  awash  and  high  and  dry  ;  if  arctic  and 
equatorial  streams  have  spent  their  force  upon  it,  the  surface 
must  bear  their  marks. 

Supposing  an  arctic  current  to  break  upon  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  Wales,  that  corner  ought  to  be  worn  away 
to  a  slope  facing  the  current,  and  beds  of  rock  should  be 
broken  short  off  to  form  precipices  on  the  south-western 
side,  if  heavy  ice  was  driven  over  the  hills  towards  the  S.W. 

It  is  so  in  the  small  scale  in  all  valleys  where  glaciers 
have  slid  downwards.  It  is  so  in  the  valley  of  Gwynant 
near  Beddgelert,  and  similar  action  would  produce  like  form 
on  any  scale  (see  cut,  p.  6). 

Standing  upon  Little  Ormes  Head  and  looking  south-east, 

VOL.  II.  0 


194  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

the  north-eastern  corner  of  Wales  is  seen  in  profile,  and  the 
general  outline  of  the  country  has  the  form  of  small  rocks 
worn  down  by  ice  which  moved  from  N.E.  to  S.W. 

To  a  practised  eye  the  Welsh  hills  seem  to  tell  their 
story  of  movement  from  the  N.E.  as  clearly  as  Welsh  trees 
do  of  movement  from  the  S.W.  (see  vol.  i.  p.  59). 

Looking  south-west  from  the  same  point,  the  end  of  the 
ridge,  of  which  Snowdon  is  the  highest  point,  is  seen  over  a 
foreground  of  bare  rocks  about  700  feet  high,  and  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  outline  of  the  distant  ridge  of  high  hills  seen  in 
this  direction  is  something  wholly  different  from  the  fore- 
ground, which  is  like  the  rounded  hills  about  Mold  and 
Wrexham.  These  can  be  seen  by  looking  S.E. 

Looking  W.  and  N.W.  the  outline  of  Anglesea  is  some- 
thing different  from  them  all.  When  that  island  is  crossed 
it  is  like  a  worn  grooved  slab  of  stone.  From  Ormes  Head 
it  seems  to  be  a  low  undulating  line  nearly  parallel  to  the 
horizon. 

If  after  seeing  hills  in  profile  the  observer  could  fly  over 
them,  he  would  gain  a  better  notion  of  their  shape. 

In  the  case  of  Wales  the  country  has  been  so  admirably 
mapped  by  the  Ordnance  Survey  that  to  look  down  upon  a 
map  is  almost  as  instructive  as  to  sail  over  the  country  in  a 
balloon.  In  the  Ordnance  map  of  this  district,  the  high 
hills  and  the  low  country  are  seen  to  have  a  totally  different 
configuration. 

The  Snowdon  ridge,  3570  feet  high,  extends  N.E.  and 
S.W.,  and  great  valleys  and  corries  seem  to  have  been 
gouged  out  of  it  in  every  possible  direction.  But  on  both 
sides  of  the  ridge  the  country  is  furrowed  by  long  grooves, 
which  run  N.E.  and  S.W.  In  the  deepest  of  these  is  the 
Menai  Strait.  Another  runs  into  Cardigan  Bay.  The 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  195 

north-eastern  corner  of  the  block  has  in  fact  been  worn 
down  by  some  force  acting  from  the  N.E.,  and  the  north- 
western corner  has  been  furrowed  diagonally  in  the  same 
direction. 

To  one  used  to  the  look  of  ice-ground  hills,  the  whole 
of  North  Wales,  except  the  Snowdon  range,  appears  to  have 
been  first  ice-ground  in  one  direction,  and  then  further  ice- 
ground  in  all  possible  directions,  by  local  river-glaciers  of 
great  size,  which  hewed  out  glens. 

The  low  hills  at  Little  Ormes  Head  and  Llandudno  are 
much  weathered,  but  they  retain  their  general  form.  They 
are  very  bare,  so  that  their  form  can  be  well  seen,  but  here 
and  there  patches  of  drift,  clay,  and  boulders,  and  big  perched 
blocks,  occur  near  the  top  of  the  hills. 

The  broad  low  isthmus  which  joins  Great  Ormes  Head  to 
the  mainland  seems  to  be  chiefly  composed  of  rounded  boulders 
of  all  sorts  and  sizes.  It  is  probably  an  old  moraine  arranged 
by  the  sea,  and  it  contains  specimens  of  many  kinds  of  rock 
which  are  not  found  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood. 

Looking  down  from  the  ruined  battlements  of  Conway 
Castle  on  a  fine  evening,  after  a  strong  northerly  breeze  has 
nearly  blown  itself  out,  the  forms  of  the  miniature  waves  on  the 
river,  and  of  larger  solid  wave-marks  made  at  high  tide  upon 
the  sandbanks,  by  larger  water-waves,  may  be  seen  and  com- 
pared. They  are  almost  identical  :  one  set  is  moving,  the 
other  is  at  rest ;  but  the  wave-mark  shows  how  a  wave 
moved,  and  copies  it.  Looking  up  to  the  hill-sides  where  the 
trees  are  exposed,  their  form  tells  of  a  prevailing  wind 
which  bends  them  towards  the  north-east.  Looking  to  the 
hills  themselves,  they  have  the  form  of  wave-marks,  caused 
by  a  north-east  wind  ;  for  they  have  been  swept  by  the  force 
which  carried  perched  blocks,  and  arranged  the  boulders 


196  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

about  Llandudno.  There  is  no  known  force  but  ice  which 
could  so  grind  rocks  and  carry  such  stones. 

At  Chester,  Llangollen,  Wrexham,  Mold,  Holy  well,  Rhyll, 
Abergele,  high  up  and  low  down,  the  north-eastern  corner  of 
Wales  looks  like  a  block  worn  down  from  the  N.E. 

The  hills  are  much  weathered,  but  they  all  retain  a  general 
form.  Patches  of  sand,  clay,  and  boulders  rest  in  hollows  ; 
and  on  hill-tops  perched  blocks  rest  at  all  elevations  from  the 
sea,  to  about  1000  feet. 

About  Maes-y-Safn,  and  this  north-eastern  corner  of  Wales 
generally,  it  is  hopeless  to  search  for  high  strise  upon  the 
limestone  rocks  ;  for  they  are  so  weathered  as  to  leave  delicate 
fossils  projecting  far  above  the  surface.  Bain-water  seems 
to  dissolve  limestone  like  salt.  It  is  vain  to  search  for 
striae  on  grits  and  sandstones,  which  crumble  at  a  touch  ;  but 
the  whole  of  these  hills  have  their  longest  slope  towards  the 
N.E. ;  in  which  direction  the  beds  also  dip  at  a  higher  angle. 
The  steepest  side  is  generally  towards  the  S.W. 

Sometimes  the  beds  are  broken,  so  as  to  leave  precipitous 
faces  of  mountain  limestone.  Sometimes  these  edges  are 
rounded  off. 

Glens  are  rounded  grooves,  and  seem  to  be  gouged  out  of 
the  rock  without  reference  to  bedding ;  and  every  shape  in 
the  country  seems  to  tell  of  some  great  mass  moving  over  the 
surface  of  the  land,  and  grinding  it  down. 

There  are  three  stages — first,  a  low  alluvial  plain,  but  little 
raised  above  the  sea-level,  which  stretches  far  up  into  the 
glens  ;  for  example,  at  Khyll.  This  seems  to  consist  of  trans- 
ported materials.  The  next  stage  is  a  rolling  rock-plateau, 
about  1000  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  steep  towards  the  K, 
and  slopes  gradually  towards  the  E.  and  N.E.  In  the  low 
grounds  to  the  east,  and  on  this  plateau,  are  beds  of  drift  and 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC. 


197 


FIG.  83.     N.  E.  CORNER  OF  WALES. 


boulders.  The  hills  at  the  1000  feet  level  are  all  rounded. 
Even  though  the  slope  of  the  low  hills  and  the  dip  of  the 
strata  are  much  the 

same    in    direction,  NE  — —  — > 

the  slope  has  no- 
thing to  do  with  the 
dip.  Near  Rhyll, 
the  hills  slope  from 
the  N.E.  at  an  angle 
of  about  9°,  but  the 
dip  is  about  45°. 

Above  this  upper 

level,  hill-tops  are  weathered  peaks,  and  mountain-glens 
radiate  from  them,  cutting  through  the  upper  plateau  from 
the  watershed  to  the  sea. 

In  the  Snowdon  range  the  rocks  are  harder,  and  strise 
abound.  The  valley  of  the  Conway  is  a  great  groove,  which 
runs  nearly  N.  and  S.,  and  which  certainly  contained  a  large 
glacier,  or  heavy  fjord  ice.  The  road  to  Llanberis  follows 
its  course  to  the  foot  of  Snowdon.  The  bottom  of  the  groove 
is  filled  with  beds  of  gravel,  sand,  clay,  and  peat,  in  which 
large  trees  are  buried.  It  is  a  flat  plain,  through  which 
the  salmon-stream  winds  to  the  estuary,  where  it  meets  the 
tide ;  trees,  green  fields,  and  neat  houses  abound  ;  a  railway 
train  screams  and  rattles  over  the  plain,  and  up  the  glen  ;  but 
there  was  a  big  glacier  there  nevertheless.  The  railway 
cutting  has  uncovered  a  rock  about  twenty-five  feet  above 
the  sea-level,  and  near  a  ferry  above  Conway ;  and  glacial 
striae  are  as  freshly  marked  upon  the  slate  as  if  they  had  just 
been  made. 

Above  ground,  the  rocks  are  weathered  and  broken  down. 
Many  forests  have  sprung  up  and  died  since  the  ice  was 


198  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES. 

there  ;  but  under  the  beds  of  drift  the  original  surface  of 
glacial  denudation  is  unraistakeably  clear.  If  there  was  a 
glacier  at  Conway,  there  may  have  been  others  in  other  Welsh 
glens. 

Leaving  the  valley  at  Llanrwst,  a  path  leads  up  the 
Suowdon  side  of  the  valley,  past  Gwydr  House,  to  Coed  Mawr 
Pwll  mine.  There  are  numerous  ice-marks,  boulders,  and 
suchlike,  all  the  way. 

To  the  left  of  the  path  rises  a  hill  called  Coed  Mawr, 
from  which  a  wide  view  is  obtained.  It  is  the  Ehigi  to  this 
range,  a  kind  of  outlier,  a  flat-topped  ridge  separated  from  the 
main  ridge  by  a  hollow,  and  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  Wales 
by  deep  valleys.  At  the  height  of  about  1100  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  on  the  top  of  this  outlier,  the  ground  is  strewed  with 
loose  boulders. 

The  rocks  are  well  marked  with  striae,  and  their  direction 
corresponds  to  no  existing  feature  of  the  country.  They 
neither  point  down-hill,  nor  from  the  ridge,  nor  along  the  run 
of  any  valley  or  river  near  them  ;  they  point  north-east  over 
Rhyll,  and  south-west  over  Traeth  Bach  in  Cardigan  Bay  ;  par- 
allel to  the  Menai  Strait,  to  the  ridge  of  Snowdon,  and  to  the 
run  of  the  great  sound  which  would  cut  through  Carnarvon- 
shire between  Moel  Siabod  (2865  feet  high)  and  Moel  Wynn 
(2529),  and  so  join  Cardigan  Bay  at  the  two  strands  "  Traeth 
Mawr"  and  "  Traeth  Bach,"  near  Portmadoc,  if  the  sea  were 
at  this  level  of  1100  feet.  A  glance  at  the  Ordnance  map 
shows  that  the  ground  in  this  direction  has  the  form  of  an 
estuary  of  glaciers  passing  south-west  into  Cardigan  Bay. 

This  mark  joins  in  with  the  curve  which  has  been  fol- 
lowed from  Yorkshire,  for  no  land-ice  could  well  move  N.E. 
or  8.W.  at  Coed  Mawr  now,  unless  the  neVe  was  about  the 
Pole. 


YORKSHIRE  AND  WALES,  ETC.  199 

Two  hundred  feet  lower  down,  in  the  valley  between 
Coed  Mawr  (1100)  and  Carned  Llewellyn  (3482),  between 
the  main  range  and  the  isolated  hill,  at  a  height  of  about  900 
feet,  a  small  lake,  Llijn  Pencarreg,  has  been  drained  close  to 
a  lead-mine.  It  was  in  a  rock-basin,  for  they  had  to  cut 
through  rock  to  drain  it  into  the  branch  of  the  Conway 
which  comes  from  Snowdon.  The  bottom  is  filled  with  peat, 
and  where  the  peat  has  been  removed  glacial  striations  are 
fresh  and  perfect.  These  point  E.N.E.  and  W.S.W.,  out  into 
the  valley,  through  the  hollow  where  the  drain  was  cut.  If 
ice  were  now  sliding  from  Carned  Llewellyn  it  might  be 
caught  in  the  trench  and  split  on  the  watershed.  Part  of  it 
might  slide  northwards  into  the  Conway  valley,  along  the 
line  of  the  path  to  Llanrwst,  and  the  rest  would  swirl 
round  and  move  W.S.W.  towards  Capel  Cureg,  where  it  would 
meet  the  Snowdon  stream,  turn  back  to  Bettws-y-Coed,  and 
so  flow  on  to  Llanrwst  by  a  circuitous  path  along  the  river- 
course. 

If  a  Carned  Llewellyn  glacier  were  so  large  as  to  over- 
flow the  top  of  Coed  Mawr,  it  would  evidently  flow  S.E.  into 
the  Conway  valley ;  but  the  marks  upon  Coed  Mawr  are  at 
right  angles  to  this  direction — they  point  S.W.  Moreover 
there  appear  to  be  a  series  of  shelves  higher  up  which  corre- 
spond to  the  stria3,  not  to  the  present  watershed. 

If  the  Conway  glacier,  which  must  have  had  a  source  about 
Moel  Wynn,  were  large  enough  to  overflow  the  whole  country, 
it  might  possibly  move  north-east,  over  Coed  Mawr,  but  it 
would  have  to  cross  a  glen  500  feet  deep,  at  right  angles  at 
Bettws-y-Coed,  and  then  move  along  a  hill-side  at  a  higher 
level  than  the  opposite  side  of  the  Conway  valley,  about 
Llanrwst,  which  seems  impossible.  Making  every  allowance 
for  land-ice  of  enormous  thickness,  it  is  still  very  difficult 


200 


BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 


to  explain  the  striae  at  Coed  Mawr  without  the  agency  of 
floating  ice. 

But  if  ice  floated  above  1100  feet,  then  the  Snow  don 
range  was  an  archipelago  when  this  mark  was  made,  and 
Moel  Wynn  was  an  island.  But  as  sea-shells  are  found  500 
feet  higher  up,  and  stratified  drift  400  feet  above  the  shells, 
icebergs  may  have  floated  along  the  Snowdon  islands  so  as  to 
mark  sunken  rocks  900  feet  below  the  sea-level.  Of  3570 
feet  of  Snowdon  there  would  still  remain  1570  above  water  to 
form  a  base  for  the  land-glaciers  which  Earn  say  describes. 
When  the  land  rose  the  Conway  glacier  might  flow  down  to 
the  present  sea-level ;  ice  certainly  did  move  in  this  trench. 


Cardigan  Bay. 


Stria  at  CoeJ  Mawr. 


FlO.  84. 


On  this  supposition  the  striae  on  Coed  Mawr  are  older 
than  those  which  are  seen  from  the  train,  about  1075  feet 
lower  down,  and  those  which  remain  in  the  lake  200  feet 
below  the  ridge  at  Coed  Mawr.  They  look  far  older,  and  in 
this  respect  resemble  others  of  their  class.  Looking  south- 
westward  along  the  line  indicated  by  the  striae,  there  is  a  groat 


YORKSHIRE  AND   WALES,  ETC.  201 

hollow  between  Moel  Siabod  and  Moel  Wynn,  beyond  which 
is  Cardigan  Bay  and  its  great  strand  Traeth  Mawr. 

When  a  great  smooth  Atlantic  roller,  moving  steadily  on, 
encounters  an  isolated  rock,  some  twenty  or  thirty  feet  higher 
than  high-water  mark,  the  glassy  surface  of  the  wave  breaks, 
and  a  torrent  of  boiling  foam,  green  water,  and  glittering  white 
spray,  rushes  over  the  stone  with  a  hoarse  roar.  If  water 
then  left  marks  they  would  be  parallel  to  each  other,  and  to 
the  direction  of  movement.  If  a  stone  or  any  other  loose 
object  stands  upon  the  rock,  it  is  driven  on  by  the  torrent,  and 
follows  the  wave  till  it  sinks.  But  when  the  crest  of  the  wave 
has  passed,  the  rock  seems  to  rise  up  like  a  whale,  or  some 
other  black  monster  of  the  deep.  Then  for  a  time  the  direc- 
tion of  movement  changes — green  torrents,  streaked  with 
snowy  foam,  stream  down  the  black  sides  of  the  rock,  and 
brown  sea-weeds  flutter  and  wave  in  rivulets  which  radiate 
outwards  and  downwards  from  the  highest  point  of  the  rock 
in  every  direction.  If  these  left  marks  they  would  radiate  as 
the  streams  do.  The  rivulets  would  make  furrows,  and  flow 
in  them  while  there  was  any  water  left  to  flow.  But  they 
leave  no  such  marks.  The  Dubh  lartach,  the  outermost  rock 
off  the  west  of  Scotland,  has  a  rough  jagged  surface,  though 
it  rises  twenty  feet  above  the  sea  where  waves  are  as  large 
as  any  in  the  whole  world. 

When  river-ice  drifting  down-stream  meets  a  stone,  the 
ice-surface,  like  the  smooth  wave,  breaks.  It  pushes  on,  up 
and  over  the  stone  in  the  direction  of  the  stream  which  moves 
it,  but  it  slides  off  in  many  ways.  If  heavy  enough  it  would 
mark  the  stone. 

If  ice  is  moved  by  a  falling  tide,  a  time  comes  when  it  no 
longer  slides  over  the  stone,  but  splits  upon  it,  and  slips  past 
it,  and  meets  behind  it  with  the  stream. 


202  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES. 

And  then  if  a  shower  falls  the  water  streams  down  the 
sides  of  the  stone  in  every  direction,  while  the  stream  flows 
past  as  before.  If  snow  falls  it  caps  the  stone,  and  when  the 
tide  has  ebbed  the  bed  of  the  stream  retains  marks  of  the 
current,  while  the  snow  is  left  to  tell  its  own  story. 

If  the  blocks  of  stone  which  Welshmen  call  Plynlimmon, 
Y  Wyddfa,  and  Cader  Idris,  were  rising  stones  in  the  falling 
tide  of  an  ice-laden  ocean-current,  like  that  which  now  over- 
runs sunken  islands  off  Labrador,  they  would  retain  the  marks, 
for  heavy  ice  does  record  its  movements  upon  stone,  and  stone 
preserves  the  record. 

The  high  Welsh  hills  do  retain  ice-marks,  and  they 
seem  to  record  that  the  hills  rose  up  in  an  icy  sea  which 
moved  ice  towards  the  south-west  for  untold  ages,  and  that 
glaciers  streamed  from  their  sides  when  the  cold  tide  fell, 
and  continued  to  flow  on,  until  a  long  age  of  winter  gradually 
passed  away,  after  the  bed  of  the  cold  stream  was  crossed  by 
Lapland. 

The  hills  about  the  head  of  Cardigan  Bay  seem  to  record 
that  the  stream  poured  out  that  way,  and  that  the  coast-line  is 
a  result,  not  of  waves  acting  at  the  present  sea-level  from  the 
south-west,  but  of  ocean-streams  pouring  towards  the  south- 
west, from  the  arctic  basin  into  the  Atlantic. 

The  deep  trench  in  the  fifteen-fathom  line  tells  the  same 
story.  It  seems  to  carry  the  south-westerly  curve  over  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  and  to  launch  it  in  the  Irish  Channel. 

The  hobby  seems  none  the  worse  for  this  rapid  burst. 
The  story  told  by  Scandinavian  and  Scotch  hills  is  confirmed 
by  hills  in  Yorkshire,  by  stones  at  Stoke  and  in  Cheshire,  by 
geologists  and  their  books,  by  popular  tradition,  by  the  map 
of  Ireland,  and  by  high  ice-marks  on  Snowdonia. 


CHAPTEK  XLI. 

BALTIC   CURRENT    14 — BRITISH  ISLES    13 — WALES    2. 

ARCTIC  sea-shells  found  in  loose  drift  at  a  height  of  1392 
feet,  and  boulders,  perched  blocks,  and  drift  at  a  height  of 
2300  feet,*  prove  that  a  cold  sea  has  been  as  high  on  the  flanks 
of  Snowdon,  since  rock  was  ground  into  something  like  the 
present  shape  of  Wales.  High  horizontal  ice-marks  on  a  hill- 
shoulder  at  1100  feet  seem  to  prove  that  the  cold  sea  which 
rose  so  high  was  cumbered  with  ice  and  moved  from  north- 
east to  south-west,  when  the  way  was  last  open.  If  land  and 
temperature  rose  together  gradually,  and  the  cold  period 
passed  away  from  Wales  when  rising  land  reached  a  certain 
point ;  then  marks  on  watersheds  at  various  elevations  ought 
to  record  the  changes  and  their  order. 

Glacial  drift,  arctic  shells,  and  horizontal  ice-grooves, 
record  the  high  sea-level  and  cold  weather.  Glacial  drift 
partially  waterworn,  and  packed  in  forms  characteristic  of 
sea-margins,  at  lower  levels  amongst  the  hills,  seems  to  mark 
an  ebbing  sea  and  warmer  weather,  a  state  of  things  more  like 
the  present  state  of  the  beach  at  Galway  (p.  21).  Water- 
worn  drifts  at  a  lower  level,  terraces,  and  sea-shells,  speak 
for  themselves.  It  seems  reasonable  to  assume  that  during 
a  gradual  change  of  climate,  dwindling  glaciers  flowed  in 

*  On  the  Superficial  Accumulations  and  Surface  Markings  of  North  Wales. 
By  Professor  A.  C.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.     March  26,  1851. 


204  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

rising  glens,  long  after  the  greatest  cold  had  risen  off  the 
sea. 

A  series  of  terminal  moraines,  entirely  made  of  native 
rocks,  and  laid  in  hollows,  mark  the  retreat  of  dwindling 
glaciers,  shrinking  upwards  ;  while  the  cold  shell  of  air-tem- 
perature and  land  rose  together  ;  and  in  Scotland  the  lowest 
perfect  moraine  seen  is  at  about  1400  feet,  the  level  of  the 
Welsh  shells. 

Old  strise  at  Snsefell  point  up  to,  and  converge  upon,  the 
high  point  from  which  smaller  glaciers  now  diverge  (vol.  i.  p. 
432) ;  and  the  same  series  of  events  appear  to  have  followed 
each  other  in  like  order  in  Wales  and  in  Iceland. 

Marks  made  in  the  bottom  of  deep  glens  near  the  present 
sea-level  may  be  marks  of  comparatively  modem  glaciers, 
which  continued  to  flow  into  the  sea  long  after  hill-shoulders, 
with  old  scars,  had  risen  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the  battle 
between  sea-water,  sea-ice,  and  Welsh  stone,  or  they  may  be 
marks  of  fjord  ice  like  that  which  now  works  with  the  tide 
in  Hamilton  Inlet  in  Labrador. 

The  old  local  glacier-system  of  the  Snowdon  range  has 
been  well  described  by  abler  pens. 

Buckland,  Darwin,  Lyell,  Murchison,  Ramsay,  and  a  host  of 
famous  men,  have  piled  up  a  mountain  of  facts  which  would  be 
harder  to  get  over  than  Y  Wyddfa.  The  former  existence  of 
Welsh  glaciers  is  proved  beyond  dispute ;  and  to  a  practised  eye 
the  record  seems  patent. 

At  Capel  Cureg  ice-ground  rocks  abound.  At  the  head 
of  the  pass,  where  the  water  sheds  towards  Cardigan  Bay,  at 
a  place  lower  than  Coed  Mawr,  ice-marks  rise  high,  between 
Moel  Siabod  and  Snowdon.  If  ice  floated  at  1100  feet,  this 
was  a  sea-strait,  and  these  may  be  marks  of  heavy  drift-ice 
moving  in  a  groove  like  the  Menai  Strait.  Two  ice-streams 


WALES.  205 

here  split.  One  reached  Con  way  by  the  road  and  railway ; 
the  other  went  to  Beddgelert  and  Portmadoc.  Whether  both 
reached  the  present  sea-level  remains  to  be  proved.  It  is 
certain  that  the  ice  was  of  large  size,  and  it  reached  Conway. 

At  the  col  at  the  head  of  the  Pass  of  Llanberis,  about 
1300  feet  above  the  sea,  a  cross  strait  divided  the  Snowdon 
range  when  shells  and  drift  were  deposited  upon  the  hill- 
sides at  1392  and  2300  feet.*  According  to  the  ice-marks, 
two  glaciers  met  in  this  trench,  and  parted,  as  glaciers  part 
now  at  the  Col  de  Geant.  One  ice-stream  probably  split 
lower  down,  and  went  to  Conway  and  Portmadoc  ;  the  other 
stream  went  towards  the  Menai  Strait,  for  the  marks  are 
plain  in  this  direction  for  many  miles.  Above  this  col, 
Eamsay  has  tracked  old  moraines,  almost  to  the  peak  of 
Snowdon.  One  system  thus  tracked  from  Conway  to  the 
highest  peak  of  Wales,  the  map  of  the  country  gives  the 
shape  of  the  local  system.  It  must  have  been  a  herring- 
bone pattern  of  ice,  for  the  glens  all  radiate  like  ribs  from  the 
backbone  of  North  Wales. 

It  has  been  shown  above  (vol.  L  p.  157)  that  rocks  upon  the 
snowshed  of  the  Alps,  on  the  Strahlek,  at  11,000. feet,  and  in 
the  midst  of  land-glaciers,  are  not  ground,  but  riven  and 
shattered.  It  is  also  shown  (voL  i.  p.  167)  that  rocks  on  the 
snowshed  of  Mont  Blanc,  on  the  Col  de  Geant,  at  11,146  feet, 
and  at  the  source  of  the  largest  of  European  glaciers,  are 
equally  shattered  ;  although  the  snow-dome  of  Mont  Blanc, 
15,744  feet  high,  rises  4598  feet  immediately  over  this  pass. 

From  the  top  of  Mont  Blanc  the  Glacier  de  Boissons 
flows  continuously  down  12,300  feet  to  a  level  only  3444  feet 
above  the  sea.  This  glacier  descends  3902  feet  below  the 

*  According  to  Professor  Ramsay's  paper  above  quoted,  the  drift  overhangs 
this  pass. 


206  BALTIC  CURRENT—  BRITISH  ISLES. 

level  of  the  Grimsel  Col,  which  is  7346  above  the  sea. 
According  to  De  Charpentier  and  Elie  de  Beaumont,  one,  and 
the  highest  known,  superior  limit  of  the  erratic  formation  is 
at  the  Grimsel  CoL  There,  at  the  Furca,  and  on  similar 
passes  in  the  Alps,  at  about  this  level,  rocks  are  rounded. 
The  top  of  the  Stelvio  (9272  feet)  is  not  shattered  but  ground 
(vol.  i.  p.  144).  The  inferior  limits  of  the  erratic  formation  of 
the  Alps  are  far  beyond  the  Rhine  on  one  side,  and  near  Turin 
and  Milan  on  the  other ;  and  the  question  is  whether  these 
stones  were  carried  from  the  watersheds  of  the  Alps  all  that 
distance  upon  laud-ice,  or  part  of  the  way  on  land-ice,  and  the 
rest  of  it  on  ice-floats  (vol.  i.  p.  169).  If  the  Snowdon  ice-marks 
were  made  by  land-glaciers,  which  grew  in  consequence  of  a 
great  elevation  of  land  (which  is  one  theory  suggested  to 
account  for  them),  they  ought  all  to  point  up-stream,  to  and 
towards  some  snowshed  ;  and  the  snowshed  ought  to  be 
shattered  when  it  is  narrow,  because  the  Strahlek  and  Col  de 
Ge"ant  are  shattered.  According  to  this  theory  the  snowshed 
at  Llanberis,  which  is  very  narrow,  ought  to  be  shattered. 

The  top  of  the  col  is  in  fact  rounded. 

The  highest  grooves  close  to  the  head  of  the  glen  are  as 
deep  as  grooves  made  in  places  where  the  heaviest  glaciers 
press  hardest,  and  they  seem  to  be  nearly  horizontal.  If  the 
ice- work  in  this  district  is  sea-work — a  result  of  a  cold  period 
caused,  not  by  great  elevation,  but  by  a  small  depression  of 
land — the  marks  agree  with  the  present  state  of  things  on  the 
opposite  coast. 

If  the  col  at  Llanberis  was  first  a  deep  strait,  then 
a  shallow  sound,  and  then  a  "  tarbert"  at  the  end  of  a  sea- 
loch  open  to  the  ocean  on  the  west,  heavy  drift  1000  feet 
deep  might  grind  the  deep  strait ;  lighter  drift,  250  feet,  as  at 
Belleisle,  might  pass  through  the  shallow  sound  ;  and  heavy 


WALES.  207 

fjord-ice  move  horizontally  in  the  sea-loch,  as  fjord-ice  now 
does  in  Hamilton  Inlet  (chap,  xxvi.) 

It  is  certain  that  this  col  was  a  sea-strait  1000  feet  deep 
when  drift  was  packed  in  terraces  1000  feet  above  the  pass,  and 
that  it  was  a  sound  at  least  92  feet  deep,  when  sea-shells  were 
buried  in  drift,  where  Mr.  Trimmer  found  them  at  1392  feet. 

It  may  have  been  a  "  tarbert"  300  feet  high,  when  shells 
were  buried  where  Professor  Ramsay  found  them  at  1000  feet 
on  Snowdonia. 

So  far  no  one  has  yet  found  shells  in  drift  on  the  high 
Alps  ;  no  one  seems  to  have  sought  them  ;  but  judging  from 
form  alone,  it  seems  probable  that  arctic  shells  may  yet  be 
found  in  superficial  deposits  at  higher  levels  than  the  Stelvio 
(9000  feet),  but  not  above  the  level  at  which  cols  and  peaks 
are  all  shattered — namely,  about  11,000  feet. 

It  seems  possible  that  rounded  Alpine  passes  were  sea- 
straits  when  they  were  rounded,  and  that  land-glaciers  may 
have  been  launched  from  Alpine  peaks  which  were  6672 
feet  above  water  when  the  Stelvio  was  a  "  tarbert,"  and  the 
Ortles  Spitz  a  tall  "  stack"  in  a  European  ocean  whose  arctic 
current  passed  Snowdonia. 

According  to  the  Baltic  Current  theoiy,  such  a  current  did 
pass  this  way,  and  did  all  the  work ;  according  to  other  theories, 
the  whole  of  the  northern  hemisphere  must  have  been  covered 
with  one  vast  sheet  of  ice  during  the  glacial  period. 

When  the  gorge  of  Llanberis  is  passed  westwards,  a  wide 
plateau  begins,  where  the  chief  product  of  the  country  seems 
to  be  glaciated  boulders,  but  rolled  and  waterworn.  Walls 
are  made  of  them,  roads  are  broken  boulders,  streams  run 
amongst  boulders,  and  the  soil  is  clay.  At  this  level,  about 
300  feet  above  the  present  sea,  most  of  Anglesea  would  be 
under  the  sea  which  helped  to  roll  these  stones. 


208  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

The  boulder-land  ends  in  a  series  of  steps  and  a  steep 
terrace,  which  makes  one  side  of  the  big  groove,  over  which 
the  tubular  bridge  has  been  thrown.  These  steps  and  terraces, 
and  the  groove  which  holds  the  Menai  Strait,  cross  the  course 
of  the  old  Llanberis  glacier  at  right  angles.  If  the  Snowdon 
glaciers  reached  the  sea  at  the  level  of  300  or  400  or  500  feet, 
the  present  tides  might  move  icebergs  and  land-ice  N.E.  and 
S.W.  along  the  coast. 

Anglesea. — The  geological  structure  of  Anglesea  includes 
igneous  rocks  and  sedimentary  beds,  from  the  lower  silurian 
to  the  coal-measures.  In  the  mines,  these  beds  are  seen  to  be 
fractured,  twisted,  dislocated,  and  roasted  ;  the  surface  con- 
sists of  rocks  of  every  degree  of  hardness,  of  beds  dipping 
everyway  and  at  all  angles,  of  minerals  which  fracture,  wear, 
and  weather  into  all  manner  of  shapes  ;  but  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  country  has  one  prevailing  form.  The  hills  and  the 
rocks,  wherever  they  appear  through  drift  and  peat,  have  the 
same  form  as  the  hills  and  rocks  of  low  ice-ground  Scandina- 
vian islands  ;  and  they  too  are  ice-ground. 

Boulders  and  clay  are  everywhere.  Travelling  at  ex- 
press speed  in  the  railway  train,  driving  or  walking,  the 
marks  of  ice  are  manifest.  "  Tyr  Von"  is  like  a  slab  of 
variegated  marble  roughly  ground  flat,  well  scratched,  and  ill 
washed. 

The  direction  of  movement  was  N.E.  and  S.W.,  that  of  the 
tide  in  the  strait,  which  now  looks  like  a  big  river  shrunk  in 
its  bed  ;  the  grinding-rnachines  were  probably  icebergs  and 
sea-ice  worked  by  tides  and  the  Arctic  Current,  with  boulders 
for  polishing-powder  (see  chap,  xxvi.) 

All  the  rocks  seem  to  have  their  longest  slopes  and 
smoothest  sides  towards  the  N.E.,  so  the  machines  worked 
most  from  that  direction,  and  the  sea-level  was  probably 


WALES.  209 

more  than  300  feet  higher  than  now,  about  the  level  of  the 
boulder  plain,  when  the  ice  vanished.* 

Looking  south-east,  the  side  of  the  Snowdon  range  whose 
end  is  seen  from  Llaiidudno,  appears  as  a  long  ridge  most 
worn  at  the  north-eastern  end,  and  furrowed  by  deep  glens 
which  cross  the  ridge  at  right  angles.  Generally  this  north- 
western corner  with  its  bent  trees  must  leave  the  impression 
of  something  now  swept  by  a  powerful  S.W.  wind,  ar.d  formerly 
ground  by  some  force  which  acted  from  the  N.E. 

It  repeats  the  story  of  the  north-eastern  corner  of  Wales, 
but  in  a  more  legible  form.  It  surely  was  like  the  corner  of 
Iceland  (chap,  xxv.),  or  Jan  Mayen  (chap,  xxiv.),  or  Bear 
Island  (chap,  xxiii.),  or  islands  about  Hamilton  Inlet  over  the 
way  (chap,  xxvi.) 

From  Carnarvon  the  road  to  Beddgelert  first  passes 
through  a  boulder  country  and  over  terraces,  then  up  the 
course  of  an  old  glacier,  which  left  notable  marks.  At 
Beddgelert  the  course  of  the  Portmadoc  and  8nowdon 
glacier  is  crossed,  and  thence  all  the  way  to  Tan-y-Bwlch, 
the  road  crosses  a  series  of  large  furrows  running  north-east 
and  south-west, 

In  some  places  the  surfaces  are  beautifully  preserved  low 
down.  Many  ice-streams  seem  to  have  converged  here. 
Traeth  Marrr  is  seen  to  the  westward,  and  Moel  Wynn  is  to 
the  eastward,  and  there  seem  to  have  been  large  glaciers  on 
both"  sides  of  Moel  Wynn  which  met  here.  The  marshy 
plain  is  probably  a  heap  of  drift  and  glacial  debris,  a  whole 
collection  of  ruined  moraines  arranged  by  the  sea,  like  the 
plain  on  which  Llandudno  stands. 

*  According  to  Professor  Ramsay,  striae  in  Anglesea  \vcre  made  by  floating 
ice  ;  they  generally  point  E.  30°  N.,  and  are  quite  unconnected  with  those  of 
glaciers  in  Caernarvonshire.  —Paper  rend  March  26,  1851. 
VOL.  II.  I' 


210  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES. 

From  Tan-y-Bwlch  the  road  rises  into  a  valley,  which  is 
strewed  with  large  stones  at  the  height  of  700  or  800  feet. 
The  walls  are  of  boulders,  many  of  which  are  grooved,  and 
the  rocks  and  low  hills  are  all  rounded  to  the  very  top. 
Above  a  certain  level,  the  hills  are  steep  and  broken,  and 
furrowed  with  larger  corries.  At  the  level  of  the  Coed 
Mawr  striae  (1100  feet),  this  glen  would  be  a  strait.  On  the 
map  this  inland  country  seems  to  have  been  swept  south- 
wards, as  if  a  N.E.  current  had  split  on  Diprnvys,  a  range 
2050  feet  high.  The  glen  may  afterwards  have  been  filled  by 
a  Mer  de  Glace  which  was  fed  from  both  sides,  and  overflowed 
two  ways  to  Tan-y-Bwlch  and  to  Dolgelley. 

The  deep  glens  which  meet  at  Dolgelley  all  have  the  form 
of  glacier-glens,  and  above  Dolgelley  at  the  pass  of  Bwlcli- 
Uyn-Dach,  about  1000  feet  above  the  sea,  ice  set  off  south- 
wards, and  left  a  large  moraine  of  crumbled  slate,  to  mark 
the  spot  where  it  finally  expired,  below  Cader  Idris.  This 
is  not  a  perfect  moraine,  but  is  washed  or  weathered  out  of 
shape.  Tradition  narrates  that  a  giant  called  Idris  sat  on  the 
Cader,  his  seat,  and  strode  from  side  to  side  of  this  gap.  He 
was  one  of  "  Hyrm  Thyrsar,"  the  frost  giants  of  Norse  my- 
thology, and  he  has  turned  to  mist ;  for  he  was  ice,  and  he 
has  melted  away. 

Thence  all  the  way  to  Aberystwith,  the  hills  and  glens 
have  the  same  general  rounded  forms,  and  wherever  a  quarry 
or  a  broken  stone  appears,  it  shows  that  the  form  is  different 
from  any  which  could  be  produced  by  weathering  or  upheaval. 
It  is  neither  the  form  of  bedding,  jointing,  cleavage,  nor  frac- 
ture. It  is  the  form  of  glacial  denudation. 

At  the  DeviFs  Bridge,  some  fourteen  miles  from  Aberyst- 
with, a  river  has  made  a  mark  in  a  slate  rock,  which  proves 
that  wrater  could  never  wear  slate  into  the  form  of  Welsh 


WALES.  21 1 

glens.  A  stream  working  at  the  bottom  of  a  curved  hollow 
has  cut  its  own  breadth  straight  down  for  ninety  feet,  and  is 
catting  backwards  for  some  hundreds  more  lower  down.  The 
rock  is  too  hard  to  weather  or  break  easily,  and  it  has  not 
fallen,  so  the  river-mark  is  perfectly  preserved.  Further  down, 
the  valley  retains  its  glaciated  form,  and  higher  up,  wherever 
a  valley  is  left,  the  upper  level  of  the  country  is  seen  to  have 
one  uniform  slope  from  Plyulimmon  to  the  sea  x s . 

There  is  the  general  form  of  denudation  upon  the  largest 
scale  in  the  outline  of  the  country,  and  in  the  glens  which 
run  north-east  and  south-west ;  next  the  form  of  denuda- 
tion by  local  glaciers,  or  glacial  currents,  which  scooped  out 
broad  concave  glens  ;  and  lastly,  a  steep  straight  ditch  cut  by 
running  water  at  the  bottom  of  the  old  ice-groove. 

There  is  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  tool  which  made 
this  drain  ;  the  marks  are  seen  from  the  water-level  up  to  the 
foot  of  the  bridge,  and  there  is  no  joint  or  vein  in  the  rock, 
for  the  rock  is  smooth  and  polished,  and  the  slate  beds  are 
unbroken  in  the  bed  of  the  stream.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
trench,  which  the  stream  has  dug  ninety  feet  through  slate, 
there  is  not  a  chink  in  the  stone. 

If  the  rate  of  wearing  could  be  got  at  here,  it  wrould  be 
a  chronometer.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  river  worked  thus 
under  ice  ;  it  certainly  did  not  work  below  the  sea,  so  it 
began  to  dig  after  the  spot  had  risen.  It  is  now  750  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  stream  was  about  its  present  size  when 
it  began  at  the  ninety  feet,  for  the  trench  is  no  wider  at  the 
top  than  it  is  below.  The  question  then  is,  How  much  slate 
does  this  river  wash  off  in  a  year  ?  By  anchoring  stones  in 
the  river,  and  weighing  them  from  time  to  time,  this  question 
might  be  solved,  and  then  the  upheaval  of  Wales  might  be 
calculated  from  the  river-mark. 


212  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

At  Bortli  is  a  large  beach,  which  crosses  a  rock-hollow, 
like  a  sea-darn. 

Behind  the  dam  peat  and  silt-beds  have  gathered  ;  in  front 
of  it  a  bed  of  yellow  sea-sand  is  smoothed  by  Atlantic  rollers ; 
and  the  mound  itself  is  a  blue  ridge  of  slate  pebbles  and 
boulders  rolled  by  the  sea.  These  were  probably  carried 
from  their  parent  rocks  by  the  Plynliminon  and  Machynlleth 
branch  glacier  from  the  Plynlimmon  and  Cemmis  junction, 
where  it  joined  the  Severn  valley  ice-line,  at  the  watershed. 

From  Borth  near  Aberystwith,  a  railway  has  been  made 
across  Wales  to  Shrewsbury,  and  the  cutting  has  not  yet 
(1863)  been  overgrown  with  turf.  Travelling  on  this  line  is 
Like  studying  a  geological  section.  The  hills  and  valleys  are 
all  of  one  pattern  outside,  but  they  are  composed  of  beds 
which  dip  in  many  directions,  and  at  many  angles,  and  which 
are  of  various  kinds.  The  rock  is  often  covered  with  glacial 
debris,  beds  of  clay,  generally  yellow,  enclosing  angular  and 
rounded  blocks  of  stone  of  many  kinds.  There  are  grits, 
white  quartz,  igneous  rocks,  and  slates.  Near  Carno,  about 
700  feet  above  the  sea,  these  are  well  seen. 

At  the  height  of  1100  feet,  this  would  be  a  sea-strait.  It 
may  afterwards  have  been  the  bed  of  glaciers  which  came 
from  Plynlimmon,  split  on  the  watershed,  and  worked  their 
way  to  Shrewsbury  and  Cardigan  Bay. 

With  the  well-marked  glacial  phenomena  of  the  high 
mountains  of  North  Wales  fresh  in  the  mind,  a  rapid  journey 
along  this  line  is  like  reading  the  history  of  a  glacier.  Bare 
rocks  get  covered ;  stones  get  more  rounded  as  the  train  de- 
scends ;  the  colour  of  the  clay  changes  ;  confused  heaps  of 
loose  rubbish  are  better  sorted  where  they  have  been  washed 
in  hollows ;  there  is  more  variety  in  the  materials  after  a 
greater  number  of  beds  have  been  passed  ;  and  finally,  when 


WALES.  213 

the  low  plains  are  reached,  the  whole  is  hidden  under  allu- 
vial soil.  The  work  of  ice  is  covered  by  the  work  of  water 
and  air,  and  a  green  cloak  of  vegetation  is  thrown  over  all. 

Then  comes  the  plain,  and  the  town,  and  archaeology,  and 
man's  history  recorded  by  his  works ;  old  houses,  old  glass, 
old  churches — a  museum  of  antiquities.  Old  English,  Nor- 
man, Saxon,  lioman,  Celtic,  and  unknown  remains — all  records 
of  a  series  of  events,  which  began  here  after  the  other 
ended.  And  yet  the  sculptured  marks  of  ice  which  moved 
between  Snowdon  and  Conway,  and  passed  over  Coed  Mawr 
and  Anglesea  at  1000  feet,  and  at  the  sea-level  from  N.E.  to 
S.W.,  are  better  preserved  than  Koman  sculptures  from  Uri- 
coniurn  ;  and  there  are  boulders  near  the  Stiper  Stones,  which 
tell  their  story  at  least  as  well  as  the  ruined  gable  of  an  old 
house. 

The  geological  sections  of  Wales,  which  have  just  been 
finished,  confirm  what  has  been  said  above. 

On  the  western  side  of  Cader  Idrjs  boulder-clay  is  marked 
at  1100  feet ;  at  1000  on  the  western  side  of  Snowdon,  and 
at  1700  feet  at  Mauchlyn  Mawr. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  hills  drift  is  not  marked,  but 
drift  exists  in  patches  everywhere.  If  the  movement  was 
south-westwards  drift  ought  to  be  found  to  the  westward  of 
the  high  grounds,  under  the  lee  of  islands  which  are  now 
mountains.  Sea-waves  woidd  tend  to  wash  the  drift  from  the 
south-west  end,  where  it  abounds  most. 

The  structure  of  the  country  shows  trap,  felspathic  ash, 
fossiliferous  and  non-fossiliferous  slates,  grits,  lime,  shales,  and 
coal-fields.  There  is  evidence  of  fracture,  disturbance,  and 
bending  of  strata,  upon  a  very  large  scale,  and  of  volcanic 
eruptions.  The  mines  show  that  the  shattered  crust  has 
grated  its  broken  edges  to  make  smooth  grooved  sides  in  the 


214 


BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 


cracks.  Bits  as  broad  as  a  parish  and  of  unknown  thickness 
have  risen,  or  fallen,  or  moved  horizontally;  and  every  bit  has 
moved,  for  there  are  slickensides  in  every  mine.  The  surface 
must  often  have  been  rough  and  jagged  like  that  of  a  broken 
flagstone  laid  upon  a  soft  bed  and  trodden  awry.  Some  of 
the  cracks  are  filled  with  clay  and  boulders,  so  they  were 
open  when  ice  was  here.  But  some  great  force  has  now 
ground  off'  all  the  corners.  The  geological  section  gives  the 
same  lines  which  can  be  seen  in  every  Welsh  quarry,  and  in 
many  quarries  the  surface  of  glacial  denudation  yet  remains. 

The  geological  map  shows  no  granite  in  Wales.  Granite 
boulders  are  found  in  Cheshire  to  the  north-east,  and  the 
nearest  English  granite  hill  is  further  to  the  north  and  east 
than  the  Cheshire  boulders. 

If  the  assumed  curve  is  followed  up-stream  it  joins  Wales, 
Cheshire,  the  Skagerrak,  and  a  Scandinavian  .district  where 
granite  abounds,  and  where  ice-marks  are  conspicuous  at  high 
levels. 

So  the  block  of  land  which  we  call  Wales  seems  to  have 
been  ground  down  by  an  arctic  current  and  by  local  glaciers, 
which  gradually  disappeared  after  the  laud  had  risen  to  a 
certain  level,  and  of  which  the  last  traces  are  to  be  found  in 
the  highest  part  of  the  highest  glens.  Whether  any  of  these 
traces  coincide  with  any  record  of  man,  is  the  geological 
question  of  the  day. 


FIG.  X>.    DKVII.'R  RRIDOE. 


CHAPTEE   XLII. 

BALTIC  CURRENT  15 — BRITISH  ISLES  14— ENGLAND  (SOUTH). 

A  SET  of  curves,  like  the  rest,  drawn  from  Novaya  Zemlya 
proper,  pass  over  Russian  Lapland  and  the  White  Sea  ;  Fin- 
land, the  Gulf  of  Bothnia,  and  the  Baltic  ;  the  low  rocks  of 
Sweden  ;  the  drift  of  Denmark,  Hanover,  Holland,  Belgium, 
and  part  of  France.  In  England,  curves  pass  from  Whitby 
to  Snowdon ;  from  the  Wash  to  the  Bristol  Channel ;  from  the 
Thames  to  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  and  from  Heligoland  past  Dover, 
down  the  English  Channel,  and  out  to  sea. 

It  has  been  shown  above  that  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  ice  travelled  south-westward  over  Sweden  and  Finland 
(chaps,  xviii  xix,  xx.)  A  succinct  account  of  the  superficial 
geology  of  Denmark  is  given  by  Sir  C.  Lyell  in  the  second 
chapter  of  his  last  great  work.  Means  of  temperature  and 
limits  of  vegetation  have  been  mapped,  and  a  series  is  pub- 
lished in  Keith  Johnston's  Physical  Atlas.  From  facts  taken 
from  these  stores,  and  from  personal  knowledge,  it  appears 
that  the  present  mean  annual  temperature  in  Denmark  is 
about  46°  and  48°,  and  the  forests  chiefly  beech.  In  the 
upper  beds  of  peat  the  trees  which  are  preserved  are  chiefly 
beech  ;  and  in  this  layer  human  remains  are  associated 
with  weapons  of  iron  and  other  metals.  In  the  next  layer 
the  trees  are  oak,  and  wwks  of  human  art  older  and 
chiefly  bronze.  In  the  next  the  trees  are  Scotch  fir  and 
birch,  and  human  implements  far  ruder,  and  chiefly  stone. 


216  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

Beneath  all  these  are  layers  of  glacial  drift,  clay,  and 
scratched  boulders.  These  several  layers  seem  to  indicate  a 
gradual  change  of  temperature  from  cold  to  warm  ;  thus — 

In  Bear  Island,  Greenland,  and  the  north  of  Labrador,  a 
mean  temperature  of  28°  now  coincides  with  the  deposition  of 
glacial  drift  in  the  sea,  and  with  the  polishing  of  rocks  by 
land  and  sea  ice. 

About  the  North  Cape,  Western  Iceland,  and  the  south  of 
Labrador,  a  mean  temperature  of  32°  now  coincides  with  the 
growth  of  fir-trees  and  birches  on  shore,  and  with  the  deposi- 
tion of  glacial  drift  in  the  neighbouring  seas. 

About  Stockholm,  Christiania,  Cape  Race,  and  Nova  Scotia, 
a  mean  temperature  of  41°  now  corresponds  to  the  growth  of 
oaks,  pines,  and  other  forest  trees,  and  of  heavy  winter-ice  on 
shore  and  afloat. 

Lastly,  about  Copenhagen  an  isothermal  curve  of  44° 
passes  north  of  Scotland  and  south  of  Nova  Scotia,  where  sea- 
ice  now  marks  rocks,  deposits  drift,  and  moves  south-west 
about  lat.  45°  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 

If  the  climate  of  Europe  were  now  like  that  of  America 
there  would  be  ice-floats  on  the  northern  coast  of  Spain  in 
winter;  the  cold  of  Copenhagen  and  Halifax  would  reach 
Bordeaux ;  while  the  cold  of  Labrador,  Cape  Farewell,  and  the 
North  Cape  of  Norway,  would  reach  Copenhagen. 

The  glacial  drift  of  Denmark  seems  to  prove  that  the 
present  climate  of  Labrador  did  in  fact  exist  about  Jutland 
when  that  spot  was  under  water,  and  geologists  are  agreed 
that  Jutland  was  an  archipelago  at  no  distant  date.  The 
Danish  stone,  bronze,  and  iron  periods,  with  their  vegetations, 
so  far  prove  a  change  of  climate  during  the  human  period, 
after  the  land  rose. 

According  to  the  Baltic  Current  theory,  the  blocking  up 


ENGLAND  (SOUTH).  217 

of  a  northern  strait  by  a  rise  of  land  was  the  first  step 
in  a  gradual  change  which  is  still  in  progress,  for  the  last 
Norwegian  glaciers  are  now  dwindling  away. 

Eivers  of  all  dimensions  have  deltas  ;  ocean-streams,  espe- 
cially when  laden  with  ice,  ought  also  to  build  submarine 
deltas ;  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  about  lat.  50°,  seem  to 
represent  the  "northern  glacial  drift"  of  the  present  day: 
if  so,  Denmark,  the  Dogger  Bank,  and  the  drift  districts  of 
eastern  England,  may  be  parts  of  the  submarine  delta  of  the 
Baltic  Current.  The  direction  of  strise,  shells,  and  the  nature 
of  the  drift  on  shore,  are  the  only  guides. 

The  same  high  authority  who  states  the  order  of  super- 
ficial deposits  in  Denmark  also  describes  the  eastern  coast  of 
England  (chap,  xii.,  Antiquity  of  Man}.  The  "  series  of  docu- 
ments "  which  lie  next  belowT  the  glacial  drift  in  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk  read  thus,  according  to  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  trans- 
lation of  the  rocks  : — 

"  The  fossil-shells  of  the  deposits  in  question  clearly  point  to  a 
gradual  refrigeration  of  climate  from  a  temperature  somewhat  warmer 
than  that  now  prevailing  in  our  latitudes,  to  one  of  intense  cold." 

According  to  the  Baltic  Current  theory,  the  opening  of  a 
northern  strait,  by  the  sinking  of  land,  let  in  the  cold  climate, 
which  is  now  transferred  to  Labrador,  by  the  close  of  the 
strait. 

The  English  documents,  as  read  by  Lyell,  record  many 
successive  changes  in  the  relative  level  of  sea  and  land  in 
Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Essex.  Forest-land  has  sunk,  for  beds 
of  shells  are  spread  above  the  upright  stumps  of  fir-trees 
identical  in  species  with  firs  nowr  growing ;  the  sea-bottoin 
has  risen,  for  trees  now  grow  above  the  shells,  and  men  spread 
shell-marl  in  the  fields,  on  the  top  of  the  English  cliffs. 


218  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

Thru  ugh  these  old  buried  English  fir- woods,  elephants, 
rhinoceroses,  and  other  big  brutes  roamed ;  whales,  nar- 
whals, and  sea-horses  swam  over  the  same  spot  when  it 
sank ;  and  then  came  an  ice-chapter,  which  the  best  of 
modern  geologists  thus  translates  : — 

"  Erratics  of  Scandinavian  origin  occur  chiefly  in  the  lower  portions 
of  the  till.  I  came  to  the  conclusion  in  1834  that  they  had  really 
come  from  Norway  and  Sweden,  after  having  in  that  year  traced  the 
course  of  a  continuous  stream  of  such  blocks  from  those  countries  to 
Denmark,  and  across  the  Elbe,  through  "Westphalia,  to  the  borders  of 
Holland.  It  is  not  surprising  that  they  should  then  reappear  on  the 
eastern  coast  between  the  Tweed  and  the  Thames,  regions  not  half  so 
remote  from  parts  of  Norway  as  are  many  Russian  erratics  from  the 
sources  whence  they  came." — Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  218. 

The  Baltic  Current  theory  is  thus  propped  up  by  a  strong 
buttress  of  facts,  stated  by  a  great  authority  to  prove  some- 
thing else.  The  northern  strait,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
source  of  change  in  English  climate,  is  at  the  head  of  the 
Baltic.  When  land  was  sunk  in  England  and  in  Denmark,  a 
cold  sea  carried  boulders  from  Scandinavia  to  England,  in  the 
direction  of  the  curves  above  shown  (voL  i.  p.  232) ;  but  when 
the  land  rose  higher,  the  transport  of  Scandinavian  stones  was 
stopped,  and  soon  after  that  clause  in  the  ice-chapter  was 
recorded  in  the  till,  the  glacial  period  began  gradually  to 
pass  from  Europe.  It  is  argued  that  it  went  to  America. 

Sir  Charles  himself  suggests,  that  the  "  glacial  period " 
may  be  nothing  but  a  transfer  of  existing  climates,  by  causes 
now  active,  but  other  causes  than  a  Baltic  Current. 

One  more  fact  may  be  taken  from  this  storehouse. 

At  the  end  of  the  glacial  period,  eastern  British  drift  camej 
not  from  Scandinavia,  but  apparently  from  the  north  of 
England. 


ENGLAND  (SOUTH).  219 

Sir  C.  Lyell  says — 

"  Patches  of  the  northern  drift,  at  about  200  feet  above  the  Thames, 
occur  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  as  at  Muswell  Hill  near  High- 
gate.  In  this  drift,  blocks  of  granite,  syenite,  greenstone,  coal-measure 
sandstone  with  its  fossils,  and  other  palaeozoic  rocks,  and  the  wreck  of 
chalk  and  oolite,  occur  confusedly  mixed  together.  The  same  glacial 
formation  is  also  found  capping  some  of  the  Essex  hills  further  to  the 
east,  and  extending  some  way  down  their  southern  slopes  towards  the 
valley  of  the  Thames." — Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  160. 

Many  of  these  fragments  are  not  Scandinavian,  and  may 
be  of  native  growth,  and  the  deposition  of  this  drift  is  sup- 
posed to  have  taken  place  at  a  time  when  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  low  grounds  of  England  were  at  least  200  feet  under  the 
sea. 

According  to  theory,  Scandinavian  drift  gave  place  to 
English  drift  when  the  stream  and  the  local  tides  changed 
their  direction,  after  the  way  from  the  polar  basin  to  Mus- 
well Hill  was  blocked  by  Lapland,  now  1200  feet  higher, 
which  rose  and  sent  the  cold  westward,  to  the  place  where 
the  glacial  period  has  now  perched,  to  feed  on  rocks  in  Green- 
land. 

Passing  S.W.  from  Norwich,  glacial  drift  is  said  to  be 
found  near  the  railway  between  Gloucester  and  Bristol,  and 
that  line  leads  to  Devonshire.  It  is  vain  for  a  single  hand  to 
attempt  to  follow  drift  through  all  England,  so  it  is  best  to  get 
to  the  hills  once  more. 

Dartmoor  is  an  upthrow  of  horse-tooth  granite  of  a  peculiar 
character,  which  has  upheaved  and  altered  surrounding  strati- 
lied  rocks.  The  granite  and  the  altered  rocks  are  traversed  by 
numerous  veins  and  faults,  in  which  mines  of  iron,  lead, 
copper,  tin,  etc.,  are  worked.  There  are  numerous  dykes  of 
greenstone  and  other  igneous  rocks,  which  fill  up  breaches  in 


220  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES. 

the  earth's  crust ;  and  there  are  "  cross-courses,"  which  are 
great  cracks  filled  up  with  angular  fragments  of  broken  rock 
and  other  materials  of  small  value.  The  crust  has  been  much 
broken  and  shaken  at  various  times,  for  more  "heaves"  and 
"  slides,"  "faults,"  "  upthrows,"  and  "  downthrows,"  are  known 
in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall  than  are  to  be  seen  in  the  cliffs 
of  Iceland. 

There  are  other  evidences  of  subterranean  heat  and  fire. 
There  are  so-called  "  hot  lodes,"  where  a  thermometer  marks 
90°  or  100°.  The  deepest  mines  in  the  district  are  the  hottest, 
and  volcanic  products,  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  such-like,  some- 
times escape  from  veins  into  the  mines. 

There  are  hot  springs  at  Bath  still.  There  is  evidence  of 
upheaval  by  the  agency  of  heat-force  in  the  geology  of  the 
country,  and  in  the  temperature  under  ground.  There  is  evi- 
dence of  denudation  by  ice  above  ground. 

The  hills  are  about  2000  feet  high. 

The  upper  part  of  Dartmoor  is  strewed  with  large  blocks 
of  granite,  many  of  which  differ  in  structure  from  the  granite 
of  the  rocks  on  which  they  rest.  They  resemble  ice-borne 
boulders  in  shape.  The  soil  is  peat  and  decomposed  granite, 
but  on  the  hill-flanks  are  beds  of  sand  and  water-worn  boul- 
ders. One  bed  is  to  be  seen  at  the  roadside  high  above  the 
Darfc,  near  Ashburton.  It  seems  to  be  water-worn  glacial 
drift,  and  the  height  is  about  200  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  hill-tops  are  capped  by  curious  granite  elevations  called 
"  tors"  (heaps  or  mounds).  These,  though  much  weathered, 
often  retain  the  characteristic  shapes  of  ice-grouiid  rocks. 

The  grinding  force  seems  to  have  acted  from  the  north- 
east towards  the  south-west. 

Blakcston  Tor,  on  the  south-eastern  side  of  the  moor,  is  a 
good  specimen  of  the  class. 


ENGLAND   (SOUTH).  221 

The  cut  is  from  a  sketch  made  on  the  spot. 
Heytor  Rocks,  about  1100  feet  above  Bovey  Tracey,  are 
good  samples  also.      From  the  internal  structure  of  these 


NE 


Fir,.  8(5. 


granite  hills  as  seen  in  a  quarry  near  Heytor,  the  tors  appear 
to  be  weathered  remnants  of  an  upper  bed  of  granite,  the  rest 
of  which  has  been  ground  and  broken  and  pushed  away  by 
some  power,  acting  chiefly  from  the  north-east.  Still  lower, 
layers  of  granite  have  also  been  worn  at  the  edges,  so  as  to 
leave  a  smooth  rounded  conical  hill,  strewed  with  rounded 
blocks,  and  capped  by  a  rounded  tor.  The  granite  breaks 
into  angular  fragments,  and  weathers  into  strange  shapes. 

The  worn  surfaces  are  very  clearly  seen  for  about  200  feet 
below  the  top,  and  a  few  remnants  of  grooves  can  there  be 
traced.  These  last  are  very  faint,  and  much  weathered.  With- 
out other  indications,  and  long  practice,  they  would  be  wholly 
insufficient  evidence,  but  taken  with  the  rest,  they  too  point 
to  ice  moving  from  N.E.  to  S.W. 

If  the  N.E.  is  the  weather-side,  most  of  the  loose  stones 
ought  to  be  found  pushed  over  into  the  shelter.  In  fact, 


222  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

most  of  the  loose  boulders  which  are  strewed  about  Dartmoor 
are  to  the  westward  of  the  tors,  and  to  the  westward  of  ridges, 
and  of  the  range  itself.  The  forms  of  the  hills  generally, 
when  seen  from  a  height,  agree  with  this  theory ;  they  are  all 
rounded.  Whatever  their  composition  may  be,  whether  they 
are  "  granite,"  or  "  killas,"  or  "  elvan,"  igneous  or  sedimentary, 
upheaved  or  not  ;  they  are  steep  towards  the  south-west,  and 
slope  towards  the  north-east,  like  hills  mentioned  above. 

On  the  hill  above  Wistman's  Wood  (see  vol.  i.  p.  31)  is  a 
great  boulder  as  big  as  a  house,  which  seems  to  be  a  "  tor " 
pushed  bodily  from  its  base  towards  the  point  from  which 
the  prevailing  wind  now  blows,  as  shown  by  the  trees. 

From  Shetland  and  Orkney  to  Devonshire,  at  certain  ele- 
vations, there  is  a  recurrence  of  the  same  rock-forms  which 
are  held  to  be  old  ice-marks  in  Scandinavia,  Switzerland,  and 
elsewhere. 

Brentor,  near  Tavistock  (see  map,  vol.  i.  p.  232),  is  at  a 
lower  level.  The  shape  is  like  that  of  hills  in  the  valley  of 
the  Forth,  with  similar  bearings.  The  rock  at  the  top  has  the 
general  shape  of  ice-ground  rocks,  but  it  is  so  weathered, 
worn,  and  grass-grown,  that  nothing  like  a  groove  was  made 
out.  The  general  shape  of  the  hill  seems  to  point  to  a  grind- 
ing force  acting  from  the  direction  of  Bristol,  at  a  height 
of  about  700  feet  above  the  present  sea-level.  Hence  this 
spoor  runs  out  to  sea,  unless  some  of  the  boulders  and  loggan- 
stones  of  Cornwall  prove  to  be  erratics  and  perched  blocks. 
No  Cornish  ice-grooves  are  known  to  the  writer.  According 
to  Sir  C.  Lyell,  the  southernmost  extent  of  "erratics"  in 
England  is  to  the  north  of  Dartmoor.* 

If  ice-floats  of  former  days  resembled  ice-floats  off  Labra- 
dor now,  there  may  have  been  an  easterly  limit,  beyond 

*  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  280. 


ENGLAND   (SOUTH).  223 

which  ice-floats  could  riot  pass.  But  that  limit  seems  to  have 
included  Kent. 

In  1860,  a  party  of  fishermen  were  creeping  for  what  they 
might  find  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  off  Margate.  They  got 
hold  of  something  heavy,  and  thinking  that  they  had  netted 
an  anchor,  or  something  better,  they  dragged  their  prize  to 
land  with  much  labour.  It  was  a  big  rounded  stone  of  the 
pattern  of  those  which  form  terraces  about  the  Tornea.  It 
was  something  so  foreign  to  the  sandbanks,  gravel,  and  chalk- 
cliffs  of  southern  England,  and  to  the  experience  of  the  fisher- 
men who  found  it,  that  they  hoisted  the  stone  to  the  end  of 
the  pier,  and  there  it  was  shown  as  a  curiosity. 

From  Muswell  Hill  and  the  Thames'  mouth,  the  S.W. 
curve  leads  to  Southampton  Water. 

In  many  of  the  chalk-glens  of  southern  England,  rich 
alluvial  flats  are  flooded  to  irrigate  meadows.  The  bright 
clear  sparkling  wealth  of  water  in  the  rivers  is  divided  and 
made  to  spread  and  wind  hither  and  thither.  The  green  grass 
and  the  water-threads  of  silver  and  crystal  weave  themselves 
into  a  pattern  of  graceful  curves,  and  this  waving,  moving, 
brilliant,  wet  carpet,  is  spread  on  a  yellow  floor  of  flint  gravel, 
peat,  and  clay,  laid  in  a  white  chalk-groove.  At  Stockbridge, 
in  one  of  these  glens,  shoals  of  trout  and  greyling  are  daily 
tempted  by  the  best  of  British  flyfishers,  armed  with  the  best 
of  London  tackle.  From  constant  practice  and  long  acquaint- 
ance, these  fish  and  fishermen  have  learned  so  much  that  great 
skill  spills  little  blood ;  but  as  a  good  fencer  is  a  dangerous 
foe,  the  man  who  kills  two  Test  trout  a  day  is  apt  to  kill  most 
elsewhere.  A  stranger  used  to  wild  fish  finds  highly-educated 
trout  too  cunning  for  his  rough  hand  ;  but  if  fish  will  not 
take,  it  is  well  to  take  to  something  else. 

The  old  spoor  which  was  found  at  the  North  Cape  is  here. 


224  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 

This  valley,  which  ends  in  Southampton  Water,  is  terraced, 
and  the  terraces  are  as  plain  as  they  are  in  Scandinavia. 
From  Stoclcbridge  four  shelves  are  very  clearly  seen  on  the 
western  side  of  the  hollow.  The  alluvial  flat  in  which  the 
Test  winds  is  about  a  mile  wide,  and  it  rests  in  a  chalk- 
groove.  The  solid  chalk  crops  out  where  the  plain  ends. 
Close  above  the  plain  is  the  first  horizontal  shelf,  and  it  is 
well  marked  at  several  places,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  glen. 
The  second  shelf  is  about  100  feet  higher  ;  and  the  whole 
series  may  be  thus  roughly  expressed.  The  only  tool  used 
was  a  pocket  aneroid  : — 

Feet. 

200  ....  liill-top. 

180  ....  fifth. 

160  .          .          .          .  fourth. 

150  .          .          .          .  third. 

100  .         .         .          .  second. 

10  .          .          .          .  first  terrace. 

0  ....  alluvial  plain. 

The  whole  country  is  cultivated,  and  there  are  few  hedge- 
rows. The  colour  is  uniform — green  in  spring,  yellow  in  autumn, 
brown  when  the  fields  are  bare.  When  light  is  favourable, 
and  attention  directed  to  the  terraced  shape  of  these  rounded 
chalk-downs,  the  whole  landscape  seems  pervaded  by  hori- 
zontal lines.  Though  all  the  chief  outlines  arc  swelling  curves 
^  ^  x / ,  a  great  many  of  the  hills  have  slight  notches 


)  v 

hewn  out  at  corresponding  elevations  on  both  sides  ;  and 
from  these,  horizontal  lines  of  light  and  blue  shadow  mark 
the  terrace  of  erosion,  which  surely  marks  an  ancient  water- 
level.  All  theories  of  lakes  are  vain  here. 

The  chalk  is  covered  with  a  very  thin  layer  of  soil  and 


ENGLAND   (SOUTH). 


225 


rolled  flints.  Many  of  these  on  the  watershed  are  water-worn 
pebbles,  like  those  which  are  found  on  sea-beaches  ;  others 
are  only  partially  rolled  ;  others  are  like  flints  newly  broken 
out  of  the  chalk.  These  stones  look  like,  water-work,  and 
here  it  must  be  sea-work.  A  well-preserved  set  of  terraces 


Fio.  S7.   TERRACES  AT  STOCKBHIDOK. 
Casting  a  small  fly  over  heavy  fish. 

occurs  near  the  hill-top  to  the  west  of  Stockbridge,  opposite 
to  the  peat-pits.  A  hedgerow  shows  the  waving  outline  of 
the  hill  very  distinctly.  These  terraces  are  about  fifty  feet 
apart,  and  might  easily  pass  for  works  of  human  skill,  "  pa- 
rallel roads"  or  fortifications.  They  seem  to  be  very  well.pre- 
served  marine  terraces  of  erosion,  and  there  are  ten  or  a  dozen 
of  various  sizes.  Lower  down  the  valley  they  recur.  On  the 
road-side,  near  a  place  called  Hazlcdown  Hill,  close  to  the 
watershed  of  the  valley  of  the  Test,  three  small  horizontal 
ridges  of  broken  and  rolled  flints,  skinned  over  with  fine  turf, 
again  recur  at  elevations  at  which  the  aneroid  barometer 
VOL.  II.  Q 


226  BALTIC  CURRENT — BRITISH   ISLES. 

marks  the  same  level — namely,  heights  somewhere  between 
200  and  150  feet  above  the  level  of  Stockbridge. 

From  Hazeldown  Hill  the  way  is  clear  to  the  glacial  drift 
on  Muswell  Hill ;  and  these  terraces  carry  the  sea-level  over 
London  along  the  line  of  this  last  curve.  It  passes  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames  to  Southampton  Water ;  from  the  last 
patch  of  British  glacial  drift  yet  described  by  good  authority, 
down  to  the  English  Channel  with  its  broken  chalk-cliffs.* 

To  men  who  "  live  at  home  at  ease  "  all  this  may  seem  to 
be  impossible,  or  mere  vague  speculation.  A  man  who  has 
never  seen  ice  upon  the  sea,  and  who  thinks  that  rocks  were 
created  in  their  present  form,  is  apt  to  suspect  a  latent  joke 
in  "  sea-margins "  in  corn-fields.  A  Londoner  who  had  not 
tried  to  construe  a  stone,  would  stare  agape  at  the  notion  of 
ice  floating  over  St.  Paul's,  or  the  nearest  steeple,  where  the 
weathercock  has  whirled  ever  since  he  was  born.  To  such 
men  all  modern  geological  change  seems  impossible,  and 
English  ice  a  myth.  But  those  who  will  accept  a  rough 
translation  of  a  stone  record  may  rest  assured  that  floes  and 
bergs  passed  over  the  site  of  London,  when  Muswell  Hill  was 
capped  with  glacial  drift. 

The  northern  "glacial  period"  is  still  within  easy  reach. 

The  Times  of  August  4,  1863,  gives  the  official  report  of 
the  loss  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  It  narrates  that  on  the  25th  of 
April  1863,  the  vessel  fell  in  with  ice  and  foggy  weather  south 
of  Newfoundland.  The  engines  were  slowed,  and  as  the  ice 

*  It  is  right  to  state  that  a  sixteen  mile  walk  to  Muswell  Hill,  without  a 
guide,  and  a  long  search  about  the  foundations  of  the  new  building,  and  else- 
where, failed  to  discover  the  patch  of  drift  in  question.  It  is  there,  but  it 
was  found  by  chance,  and  it  is  now  buried.  If  any  one  should  fail  to  discover 
marks  described  in  these  pages,  he  may  think  of  the  old  saw  which  says  that 
"  bad  seekers  are  bad  finders. " 


ENGLAND   (SOUTH).  227 

became  thicker  and  the  fog  denser,  the  engines  were  stopped. 
The  vessel  drifted  till  ten  on  the  26th,  when  the  ice  being 

7  O 

somewhat  less  compact,  she  was  moved  slowly  ahead  till 
two,  when  clear  water  was  reached.  Steam  was  then  set  on, 
and  the  vessel  went  ahead  full  speed  towards  Cape  Race  : 
she  was  about  lat.  46°  54'  N.,  and  soon  after  she  ran  aground, 
and  was  wrecked  in  a  cold  fog  at  Clam  Cove  in  Newfound- 
land. 

If  she  had  been  on  the  European  coast,  she  would  have 
been  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  off  La  Eochelle,  south  of  Brittany 
and  the  drowned  land  of  King  Grallon.  The  ice  would  have 
been  north  of  the  Pyrenees  (whose  name  means  "ice-peaks" 
if  it  be  Celtic)  where  signs  of  glaciers  abound,  she  would  have 
been  near  the  latitude  of  the  place  where  works  of  human  art 
were  found  associated  with  remains  of  reindeer. 

If  she  were  sailing  over  Europe,  she  might  have  been 
over  the  lake  of  Geneva,  off  the  high  coast  of  Switzerland,  or 
in  the  Sea  of  Azov,  under  the  lofty  Caucasian  coast,  and  north 
of  the  moraines  of  the  Lebanon. 

In  the  Times  of  June  17,  1864,  another  wreck  in  the  same 
latitude  is  thus  recorded  : — 

ICE  ix  THE  ATLANTIC. — By  the  arrival  of  the  Allan  steamer  Peru- 
vian we  hear  of  the  loss  of  two  vessels  belonging  to  this  port — the 
Philanthropist  and  Highlander.  The  former  was  on  a  voyage  from 
Liverpool  to  Quebec,  and  was  lost  in  the  ice  on  the  banks  of  New- 
foundland on  the  llth  of  May.  The  crew  were  picked  off  the  wreck 
by  the  bark  Wolfville,  and  taken  to  Quebec.  She  was  a  ship  of  805 
tons,  and  was  built  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1852.  Her  pre- 
sent owners  we  have  been  unable  to  ascertain,  as  she  very  recently 
changed  hands.  The  second  vessel,  the  Highlander,  was  bound  from 
Quebec  to  Fleetwood,  and  was,  says  the  telegram,  "  lost  near  St 
George's  Bay,"  bnt  it  is  supposed  through  contact  with  ice.  She  was  a 
perfectly  new  ship,  having  only  been  built  this  season  at  Quebec,  and 
was,  when  lost,  on  her  first  voyage,  coming  over  to  England,  we  believe, 


228  BALTIC  CURRENT— BRITISH  ISLES. 

for  sale.  Both  vessels  had  valuable  cargoes,  and  were  fully  covered 
by  insurances,  partially  if  not  wholly  effected  in  London. — Liverpool 
Courier. 

If  the  Arctic  Current  came  through  the  English  Channel, 
the  same  climate  would  descend  upon  the  English  coast. 

Drift,  shells,  ice-marks,  and  rounded  terraces,  record  that 
a  frozen  sea,  2000  feet  deep,  did  in  fact  "pass  over  the  sites  of 
London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  ;  over  Snowdon ;  over  Scot- 
land, Ireland,  and  Scandinavia  ;  and  some  of  the  highest 
marks  left  are  fresher  than  the  sculptured  pillars  of  the 
temple  of  Serapis,  which  sank  in  the  Bay  of  Naples,  stayed 
under  water  for  a  time,  and  rose  again. 

The  force  which  lifts  and  lowers  land  is  still  active  in 
Greenland,  Iceland,  Scandinavia,  Labrador,  England,  Italy, 
Sicily. 

The  same  paper  which  recorded  the  evil  deeds  of  Jack 
Frost  in  summer  1863,  also  recorded  abortive  efforts  to 
escape  made  by  the  imprisoned  cyclops  Fire. 

Accounts  from  Messina  of  Friday  last  state  that  the  volcano  of 
Mount  Etna  is  vomiting  fire  and  lava.  A  new  eruption  is  threatened 
in  the  direction  of  Bronte.  The  inhabitants  of  Catania  are  terrified  at 
the  formidable  noise  and  the  shower  of  ashes  and  stones  falling  in  that 
direction.  The  population  of  the  mountain  have  made  preparations  to 
quit  their  dwellings.  Their  horses  are  saddled,  their  cattle  gathered 
together,  and  all  their  household  furniture  packed  up  to  be  ready  for 
immediate  removal.  Prayers  are  being  offered  in  the  churches,  and 
the  relics  of  saints  are  to  be  exposed  to  the  piety  of  the  faithful. 
Terror  prevails  among  the  entire  population. 

The  memory  of  an  English  earthquake  is  still  fresh. 
There  was  a  small  volcanic  eruption  in  Iceland  in  1862. 
We  live  in  a  period  of  active  geological  change,  though  few 
men  think  about  Frost  and  Fire. 


ENGLAND  (SOUTH).  229 

The  water-meadows  at  Stockbridge,  like  the  hills,  furnish 
occupation  for  unskilled  anglers.  Every  dry  watercourse  gives 
samples  of  "  denudation"  and  "  deposition"  by  streams.  Every 
tame  stream  gives  a  lesson  which  may  be  used  to  master  the 
ways  of  wild  streams,  which  are  too  deep  to  be  easily  seen 
through.  In  the  middle  of  a  weir,  about  ten  yards  wide, 
behind  which  was  a  "  head"  of  water  three  feet  deep,  a  sluice 
was  lifted  so  as  to  make  a  strong  rush  through  a  still  pool 
in  a  lower  watercourse. 

A  certain  latent  mechanical  "  water-power,"  expressed  by 
the  broad  arrow  at  E.,  was  stored  up  behind  the  dam.  The 
same  force  of  gravitation  makes  rain  fall,  stops  a  wagging 
pendulum,  and  works  a  drop  and  the  surface  of  the  ocean- 
pool  into  spherical  forms.  By  raising  a  sluice  at  E.,  a  certain 
amount  of  this  power  was  freed,  and  set  to  work  on  water 
at  rest  in  the  river-pool. 

From  one  direct  force,  which  tends  to  produce  direct 
movement  downwards  towards  the  earth's  centre  in  all 
latitudes  and  longitudes,  and  from  the  movement  expressed 
above  by  the  form  J_,  a  series  of  very  complicated  vertical 
and  horizontal  movements  resulted  in  the  stagnant  pool 
below  the  weir  in  the  Test. 

At  the  head  of  the  pool,  at  the  spot  where  the  falling 
water  escaped  from  under  the  sluice  at  E.,  whirling  jets 
spouted  up.  In  the  strongest  downward  rush,  westward 
towards  W.  waves  rose  highest,  curled  round,  and  broke 
eastwards,  up-stream  towards  E.  A  complicated  set  of 
curves,  jostling  streams  and  waves,  crossed  and  recrossed 
the  line  of  direct  movement  from  E.  to  W.  Surface-waves 
rippled  and  broke  on  the  shore  in  every  direction.  At 
the  tail  of  the  pool  was  a  shallow,  and  the  whole  of  the 
bottom  was  overgrown  with  fine  water-plants.  Each  of  these 


230 


BALTIC   CURKENT — BRITISH  ISLES. 


was  a  tell-tale  to  point  out  the  course  of  the  stream  below, 
and  floats  on  the  surface  showed  movements  there. 

These  seemed  a  movement  from  every  direction. 

Because  there  was  a  rush  from  east  to  west  in  the  middle 
of  the  pool,  two  eddies  whirled  opposite  ways  about  the  points 
N.  S.  in  the  diagram.  The  weeds  mapped  out  the  currents. 
A  stick  thrown  into  the  rush  at  E.  turned  back  where  the 


weeds  turned  and  whirled  round  the  point  N.  Two  stacks  of 
dry  reeds  (expressed  by  circles  and  white  spots),  thrown  one 
on  each  side  of  the  rush,  revolved  in  opposite  directions  about 
their  centres  of  revolution  N.  S.  They  described  ellipses, 
and  turned  on  their  axes  in  the  directions  shown  by  arrows  ; 
and  so  the  floats  waltzed  over  the  sunken  forest  of  weeds, 
which  showed  like  movements  at  the  bottom  of  the  tran- 
sparent stream.  Not  one  reed  had  passed  over  the  shallow 
when  the  evening  flies  rose  out  of  the  water,  and  trout  seemed 


ENGLAND   (SOUTH.)  231 

disposed  to  dine.  The  experiment  was  simple,  any  child  can 
see  the  result,  but  all  the  mathematicians  that  ever  lived 
might  have  found  occupation  for  their  lives,  in  striving  to 
comprehend  the  curves  that  resulted  from  the  action  of  the 
direct  force  of  gravitation  which  stretches  a  plumb-line. 

No  special  talents  or  mental  tools  were  used  by  philoso- 
phers, to  discover  this  natural  force  of  "  gravitation  ; "  it  is 
something  patent  and  manifest  to  all,  though  no  human  mind 
can  account  for  it,  or  explain  it,  or  calculate  the  effects  of  it. 

From  the  stagnant  pool  the  river  Test  leads  back  to  the 
watershed,  and  to  the  rain-cloud  which  rose  out  of  the  sea. 
No  special  talents  or  mental  tools  need  be  used  to  discover 
the  second  force  which  tugs  at  the  cable  of  a  fire  balloon, 
beside  the  force  which  tightens  the  cords  of  the  car.  The 
effects  of  this  force  are  hard  to  calculate,  the  mode  of  action 
is  wholly  unexplained,  but  the  force  is  manifest  as  daylight 
itself. 

The  Atlantic  is  a  big  pool  to  cover  single-handed ; 
arctic  currents  are  heavy  streams  ;  those  who  venture  in  are 
apt  to  get  out  of  their  depth.  From  Lapland  to  Southampton 
is  a  long  cast ;  but,  nevertheless,  the  small  fly  has  fallen 
very  near  the  southern  haunts  of  heavy  fish.  The  last  cast 
over  London  and  the  watershed  of  the  Test  may  chance  to 
rouse  a  shoal  of  geographers,  geologists,  and  surveyors,  better 
worth  raising  and  harder  to  catch  than  Test  trout ;  and  this 
is  the  point  of  the  first  hook  dressed  to  tempt  such  readers. 

As  two  sets  of  floats  and  two  small  water-systems  revolve 
and  circulate  in  eddies,  in  a  small  pool,  and  in  the  largest 
pools  that  can  be  seen ;  so,  according  to  meteorologists  and 
bent  trees  ;  authority,  maps,  and  observation  ;  the  atmosphere 
and  local  storms, — the  largest  and  deepest  streams  in  our 
world  whirl  and  move  ;  turning  opposite  ways,  on  opposite 


232  BALTIC  CUR11ENT — BJilTlSH  ISLES. 

sides  of  the  Equator  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  Hemi- 
spheres. The  reason  seems  to  be,  that  two  mechanical  forces, 
which  are  at  rest  when  evenly  balanced,  move  air  opposite 
ways  when  one  or  the  other  is  in  excess. 

So  also,  according  to  theory  founded  upon  facts,  of  which 
some  are  stated  above,  the  ocean  circulates  within  narrower 
bounds  for  the  same  reasons.  Because  it  circulates,  and  tends 
to  move  north  and  south  upon  a  surface  turning  eastwards, 
main  currents  move  diagonally  ;  and  the  coldest  and  heaviest 
tend  westwards.  For  the  same  reason  floats  revolve  and 
circulate  about  the  Poles,  as  the  stacks  of  withered  reeds  did 
in  the  pool,  as  froth  does  in  every  eddy,  as  clouds  do  in  the 
air ;  and  as  the  coldest  are  also  the  hardest  and  the  heaviest 
of  floats,  those  which  tend  westwards  make  the  deepest 
marks. 

It  is  admitted  that  this  double  engine,  made  of  air,  water, 
and  ice,  has  done  the  work  of  "  denudation  "  and  "  deposition," 
which  geologists  study,  survey,  and  describe.  It  is  argued 
that  the  tool-marks  of  each  part  of  the  natural  engine  ought 
to  be  known,  and  that  large  work  done  by  regular  and  con- 
stant movements  in  air,  and  water,  and  ice,  ought  to  be,  and 
is  in  fact,  symmetrical 

It  is  easy  to  build  clay-maps  in  shallow  pools,  to  watch 
currents  and  eddies,  study  their  action,  and  seek  to  apply 
knowledge,  so  gained  from  experiment,  to  larger  things.  The 
pastime  is  lazy,  healthy,  and  frivolous,  as  any  idle  angler  can 
desire. 

The  map  (vol.  i.  p.  496)  is  intended  to  show  that  forms  which 
are  attributed  to  denudation  coincide  with  general  movements 
in  air  and  water,  some  of  which  correspond  to  movements  in 
a  river-pool,  and  which  seem  to  make  a  pattern  of  curves  upon 
the  rough  moving  surface  of  the  globe  ;  that  all  the  largest 


ENGLAND   (SOUTH).  233 

indentations  about  the  Equator  trend  westwards,  all  the  chief 
coasts  on  the  eastern  side  of  continents,  and  many  mountain- 
chains,  cross  meridians  diagonally  as  currents  do.  It  is 
argued  that  hills  and  hollows,  ruts  and  ridges,  which  are  less 
in  proportion  than  sand-lines  on  a  boulder,  may  be  tool-marks 
of  a  natural  graving-engine,  worked  by  fire  and  frost. 

As  a  mayfly  rises  from  mud,  through  water  into  air,  and 
dies,  so  the  mechanical  forces  which  drive  this  part  of  the 
engine  seem  to  rise  and  fall 

The  world's  heat,  which  is  always  found  when  sought 
underground,  and  the  sun's  heat  which  is  added  from  without, 
evaporate  water  and  expand  air ;  the  power  seems  to  move 
water  and  air  to  the  limit  where  force  radiating  from  the 
earth's  centre  is  expended,  or  overcome,  by  force  converging 
upon  the  centre,  whence  rays  of  heat  and  force  diverged. 

In  one  word,  the  natural  engine  seems  thus  far  to  be 
driven  by  two  opposing  forces  which  bear  various  names — 

"  gravitation  "  and  "  levitation," 

attraction  and  repulsion, 

condensation  and  evaporation, 

contraction  and  expansion, 

crystallization  and  dispersion, 

weight  and  heat, 

water-power  and  steam-power, 

weights  and  springs, 

freezing  and  boiling, 

Frost  and  Fire.     . 

The  engine  seems  to  be  driven  by  converging  and  by 
radiating  mechanical  forces,  and  by  the  will  of  Him  who 
made  them,  and  who  said  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was 
light,"  in  the  dawn  of  time. 


234 


BALTIC    CURRENT — BRITISH    ISLES. 


And  so  the  pursuit  of  mechanical  force  leads  round  to 
the  place  from  which  this  long  journey  began,  and  a  further 
search  requires  a  fresh  departure. 


FIG.  89.  "  THE  SCII.LY  BISHOPS."    Lat.  49°  51'  N. 
The  last  of  the  British  Isles.     From  a  sketch  made  8th  July  1859. 

The  rock  above  water  is  higher  and  longer  than  the  Eddy  stone.  The  building  is  pro- 
bably the  most  exposed  in  the  world.  Spray  goes  over  the  top,  which  is  more  than  100 
feet  above  the  sea-level.  The  rock,  so  far  as  the  shape  of  it  could  be  seen  or  felt,  resembles 
a  Devonshire  tor;  e.g.,  Blakeston  Tor,  p.  221.  For  a  contrast  in  climate  in  a  similar 
latitude,  see  below,  and  p.  248 


CHAPTER     XLTII. 

BELLEISLE  CURRENT — AMERICA. 

IN  the  summer  of  1864  a  holiday  trip  to  North  America 
was  so  arranged  as  to  test  glacial  theories  above  stated.  The 
Arctic  Current  and  Gulf  Stream  were  twice  crossed,  and  their 
climates  felt  at  sea.  Icebergs  were  seen  in  July  about  lat. 
49°  in  the  Atlantic.  Cape  Harrison  in  Labrador,  the  Straits 
of  Belleisle  ;  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton,  Nova 
Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  of  the  States,  as  far  south  as 
Washington,  were  visited.  The  curve  (see  map,  voL  L  p.  496) 
which  passes  through  the  Straits  of  Belleisle  was  followed 
through  Canada  and  the  Western  States  to  St.  Louis  on  the 
Mississippi.  Various  cross-routes  and  high  points  on  the 
Alleghanies  were  selected,  traversed,  visited,  and  examined  for 
ice-marks ;  the  Mammoth  Cave  in  Kentucky  was  visited  for 
its  own  sake  ;  and  the  following  are  some  of  the  results  : — 

Cape  Chudleigh,  the  most  northern  point  in  Labrador,  is 
in  lat.  60°  54'  N. ;  Cape  Harrison  is  in  55° ;  Belleisle  in  52°. 
The  Shetlands  correspond  to  Cape  Chudleigh  ;  Londonderry, 
Stranraer,  and  Newcastle,  to  places  near  Cape  Harrison ; 
Killarney,  Cork,  Gloucester,  and  Colchester,  to  places  near 
Belleisle.  There  is  no  good  chart  of  the  Labrador  coast.  The 
interior  is  unexplored.  There  are  no  high  mountains  and  no 
glaciers  in  the  country,  so  far  as  it  is  known  to  trappers, 
Indians,  fishermen,  and  settlers  along  the  coast.  The  coast- 


236  BELLEISLE   CURRENT. 

line  is  low,  rocky,  and  glaciated.  All  the  hills,  rocks,  and 
islands,  are  rounded.  There  are  few  cliffs,  and  very  few 
beaches;  but  vast  numbers  of  rocks,  reefs,  and  islands,  and 
many  long  fjords.  Hamilton  Inlet,  for  example,  is  150  miles 
long.  The  climate  is  very  severe.  In  July  and  August  1864 
many  of  the  harbours  were  frozen,  and  patches  of  snow  lay 
close  to  the  water's  edge  at  places  which  correspond  to 
watering-places  in  North  Wales.  Heavy  pack-ice  reached 
to  the  horizon  opposite  to  Hamilton  Inlet  on  the  1st  of 
August  1864.  Between  Belleisle  and  Cape  Harrison,  islands 
of  ice  were  constantly  in  sight.  The  largest  of  these  were  in 
the  offing,  and  resembled  isolated  rocks,  like  the  Bass  or 
Ailsa.  Some  were  aground  and  stationary  for  a  fortnight, 
others  had  moved  away  when  the  vessel  returned. 

It  was  very  difficult  to  estimate  their  dimensions,  but 
many  certainly  rose  200  feet  above  the  water,  and  one  near 
the  shore  rose  300.  Smaller  bergs  were  aground  amongst 
the  islands  and  in  the  fjords,  and  many  of  these  were  from  50 
to  100  feet  high.  Smaller  fragments,  called  "  growlers,"  about 
the  size  of  ships  and  boats,  were  drifting  everywhere,  and 
bits  as  big  as  hogsheads  and  barrels  were  rolling  in  the  land- 
wash.  The  temperature  of  the  water  was  generally  about 
37°  and  40°.  The  air  at  sea  was  about  40°,  but  on  rocks  and 
islands  the  temperature  of  the  air  was  far  higher  in  clear 
weather.  The  whole  of  this  drift-ice  was  working  in  shore, 
gathering  in  eddies  behind  points,  and  shooting  off  eastwards 
where  points  jutted  out  into  the  Arctic  Current.  The  move- 
ments were  analogous  to  those  of  floats  in  a  river — sticks, 
leaves,  froth,  or  ice.  The  coast  is  now  rising  between  St. 
John's  in  Newfoundland  and  Cape  Harrison  in  Labrador. 
Rocks  have  been  marked,  and  the  marks  have  risen  ;  boats 
now  ground  on  solid  rocks  where  they  floated  twenty  years 


AMERICA.  237 

ago ;  rocks  which  were  seldom  seen  now  seldom  disappear 
at  high  tide  ;  harbours  are  shoaling  ;  beds  of  common  shells 
are  found  high  above  the  sea ;  raised  beaches  are  seen  on 
hill-sides  in  sheltered  corners  ;  and  blocks  of  foreign  rock  are 
perched  upon  the  summits  of  islands  and  on  the  highest  hills 
near  the  coast.  The  rocks  are  much  weathered,  and  very 
few  stria3  were  found.  Those  which  were  found  aimed  up- 
stream. At  Indian  Island,  lat.  53°  30',  near  the  lat.  of  Hull, 
they  pointed  into  Davis  Straits,  at  a  height  of  400  feet 
above  the  sea ;  at  Red  Bay,  in  the  Straits  of  Belleisle,  they 
aimed  N.  45°  E.  at  the  sea-level.  In  winter  the  sea  is  frozen 
near  the  coast  to  a  thickness  of  18  inches  or  more  ;  in  spring 
the  northern  ice  comes  down  in  vast  masses.  In  1864  this 
spring  drift  was  150  miles  wide,  and  it  floated  past  Cape 
Eace.  From  a  careful  examination  of  the  water-line  at  many 
spots,  it  appears  that  bay-ice  grinds  rock,  but  does  not  pro- 
duce striation.  The  tops  of  conical  rocks  have  been  shorn 
off.  The  shape  of  the  country  is  a  result  of  denudation. 
No  matter  what  the  dip  and  fracture  of  the  stone  may  be, 
the  coast  is  generally  worn  into  the  shape  known  as  "  roches 
moutonnees."  It  is  impossible  to  get  at  rocks  over  which 
heavy  icebergs  now  move ;  but  a  mass,  150  miles  wide,  perhaps 
3000  feet  thick  in  some  parts,  and  moving  at  a  rate  of  a  mile 
an  hour,  or  more,  appears  to  be  an  engine  amply  sufficient 
to  account  for  stria?  on  rising  rocks,  which  were  under  water 
when  sea-shells  lived  above  them,  and  were  buried  on  them. 
A  cube  of  ice  cut  from  a  stranded  berg,  and  floated  in  sea- 
water,  rose  one-tenth  above  the  surface.  At  this  rate,  a  cube 
300  feet  high  is  3000  feet  thick,  and  would  ground  in  2700 
feet  of  water ;  one  30  feet  high  is  300  feet  thick,  and  will 
ground  in  270  feet.  In  winter  anchor-ice  forms  at  the  bot- 
tom ;  it  must  therefore  form  readily  about  the  base  of  stranded 


238  BELLEISLE   CURRENT. 

bergs.  The  mass  which  was  150  miles  wide  was  therefore 
a  floating  glacier,  armed,  as  glaciers  are,  with  stones,  gravel, 
sand,  and  mud,  moving  along  a  definite  course,  from  N.W.  to 
S.E.,  from  Cape  Chudleigh  to  Cape  Race,  and  at  a  rate  which 
no  glacier  equals.  Work  done  by  it  ought  to  resemble 
glacier-work.  At  the  north  end  of  Newfoundland  the  stream 
parts.  One  narrow  rill  flows  S.W.  through  the  Straits  of 
Belleisle,  and  carries  small  bergs  even  to  Anticosti  in  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  ;  the  main  broad  stream  is  shunted 
westward,  and  moves  from  N.W.  to  S.E.  It  was  crossed 
about  lat.  49°  on  the  16th  of  July  1864.  Numerous  large 
bergs  were  seen  ;  the  temperature  of  air  and  water  fell  when 
the  stream  was  entered,  and  rose  again  when  it  was  left  be- 
hind. The  stream  was  crossed  again  in  November,  and  the 
same  change  of  climate  remarked,  but  no  ice  was  seen  on 
this  voyage.  The  tail  of  the  stream  reaches  lat.  36°  10',  and 
it  carries  large  bergs  to  these  regions,  which  correspond  to 
Gibraltar  and  North  Carolina. 

If  such  a  current  flowed  over  America,  marks  left  by  it 
ought  to  correspond  to  these  movements.  Striae  ought  to  run 
from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  where  the  stream  could  flow  directly  ; 
from  N.W.  to  S.E.,  where  it  was  shunted  by  land  placed  as 
Newfoundland  is  now  placed. 

The  summers  of  1863  and  1864  were  remarkable  in  Great 
Britain  and  Canada  for  their  unusual  warmth  ;  in  Labrador 
and  Newfoundland  they  were  unusually  cold,  wet,  and  dark. 
Early  in  March  1864  the  sealing-fleet  left  St.  John's  in  the  lati- 
tude of  Nantes,  tried  to  force  a  passage  through  the  pack,  and, 
failing  in  that  perilous  attempt,  they  worked  up  the  coast 
inside  to  Toulinguet,  about  the  latitude  of  the  Scilly  Isles.  At 
this  promontory  a  shift  of  wind  drove  the  ice  inshore,  and  the 
whole  fleet  was  beset  for  a  month.  About  the  end  of  April 


AMERICA.  231) 

this  mass  of  northern  ice  got  adrift,  and  broke  up.  It  carried 
the  fleet  with  it,  and  thirty  vessels  were  utterly  destroyed, 
smashed,  and  ground  up.  One  was  forced  up  on  a  pan  of  ice, 
drifted  past  St.  John's,  and  was  rescued  about  Cape  Eace  by  a 
tug-steamer  sent  out  for  the  purpose. 

From  these  facts  it  appears  that  a  warm  summer  only 
increased  the  intensity  of  the  cold  by  setting  more  ice  adrift 
in  the  north ;  that  a  glacial  period  now  exists  in  English 
latitudes  ;  and  that  the  books  above  quoted  accurately  de- 
scribe the  normal  condition  of  these  regions  of  the  earth. 

If  America  were  now  submerged  3000  or  even  2000  feet, 
the  Arctic  Current  might  flow  S.W.  to  St.  Louis  on  the 
Mississippi ;  but  it  would  be  shunted  eastwards  by  high 
grounds  in  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  the  Northern 
States.  According  to  theory,  striae  ought  to  run  generally 
from  N.E.  to  S.W.  in  the  central  district ;  from  N.W.  to  S.E. 
on  the  Atlantic  shores  of  the  Alleghanies. 

Ice-marks  in  North  America  appear  to  coincide  with  this 
theory,  so  far  as  they  were  observed  in  1864.  They  did  not 
appear  to  coincide  with  the  other  theory  published  by  Agassiz 
in  the  Atlantic  Magazine  of  the  same  year,  which  supposes 
the  existence  of  a  glacier,  which  extended  from  the  North 
Pole  to  Georgia  ;  but  on  this  point  it  becomes  an  inexperienced 
writer  to  speak  with  diffidence. 

Newfoundland  extends  from  51°  40'  to  46°  38'  N.  lat. 
The  northern  end  corresponds  to  the  south  of  Ireland,  the 
south  of  Wales,  the  country  about  Bristol,  Gloucester,  Oxford, 
and  London,  Barnet,  Epping,  St.  Albans,  etc.  The  southern 
end  corresponds  to  the  north  of  Switzerland,  the  Jura 
Chalons,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Loire.  The  island  corre- 
sponds to  the  south  of  England  and  the  centre  of  France. 
Bones  of  large  reindeer  discovered  in  France  were  found  in 


240  BELLEISLE   CURRENT. 

latitudes  which  now  swarm  with  large  reindeer  in  Newfound- 
land. The  banks  reach  lat.  43°,  the  parallel  which  crosses 
Spain  near  Valencia  and  Barcelona.  In  Newfoundland  there 
are  no  high  mountains  and  no  glaciers  ;  the  land  is  low,  and 
furrowed  by  hollows,  which  run  from  N.  30°  E.,  or  thereby. 
Many  of  these  rock-grooves  extend  under  water,  and  now 
contain  large  bays  and  fjords.  The  dividing  ridges  form 
reefs  and  headlands,  and  in  many  cases  the  ridges  and  hol- 
lows correspond  to  the  strike.  Heavy  ices  of  all  kinds-  and 
dimensions  drift  along  the  coasts,  and  over  the  banks,  at  all 
seasons.  On  the  2d  of  June  1863  St.  John's  Harbour,  in  the 
latitude  of  Nantes  in  France,  was  filled  with  heavy  drift-ice  ; 
while  the  pack  extended  to  the  horizon  of  the  signal-station, 
which  is  540  feet  above  the  sea.  A  photograph  of  this 
strange  scene  was  taken  by  a  native  artist.*  If  the  land 
were  submerged,  the  Arctic  Current  would  flow  through  the 
valleys,  as  part  of  it  now  flows  through  the  Straits  of  Belleisle. 
A  thousand  feet  would  sink  the  whole  land.  Watersheds 
between  the  bays  ought  to  be  striated  from  N.  30°  E.  to  S.  30° 
W.,  or  thereby,  if  drift  striae  were  made  by  ice  drifting  in  the 
Arctic  Current  over  Newfoundland.  The  whole  country  is 
glaciated  ;  the  shape  of  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  dip  of 
the  rock,  which  is  folded  and  bent.  At  places  ice-marks  are 
well  preserved,  but  generally  the  rock-surface  is  weathered. 
No  ice-marks  were  found  at  watersheds,  because  rocks  in  the 
interior  of  Avalon  are  smothered  in  bogs,  and  overgrown  with 
an  almost  impassable  forest ;  no  rock  was  seen  on  the  only 
isthmus  crossed.  The  striae  which  were  found  were  near  the 
coast,  and  seem  to  indicate  large  land-glaciers  moving  seawards. 
At  St.  John's,  the  marks  run  over  the  Signal-hill,  540  feet, 
from  W.  and  N.  85°  W.  eastwards  ;  at  Harbour  Grace,  from  S. 

*  See  p.  248. 


AMERICA.  241 

75°  W.  down  the  bay  north-eastwards ;  at  the  head  of  Con- 
ception Bay  they  fill  a  large  hollow,  overrun  hills,  and  point 
from  S.  15°  W.  northwards.  Vast  terraces  of  drift  stretch 
along  the  base  of  rounded  hills  at  the  head  of  Conception 
Bay,  at  Harbour  Grace,  and  at  Old  Purlican,  near  the  end  of 
the  bay,  60  miles  off.  At  the  head  of  the  bay,  most  of  this 
drift  seems  to  have  come  from  the  hills.  Opposite  to  granite 
hills  are  numerous  blocks  of  granite ;  opposite  to  sandstone 
and  slate  hills  sandstone  and  slate  boulders  abound  ;  and  yet 
large  islands  of  ice  constantly  drift  into  this  bay  now,  and 
some  at  least  bring  loads  of  stone.  Three  islands,  near  100 
feet  high,  were  cruising  in  the  bay  on  the  20th  August  1864. 
As  coast-ice  also  picks  up  and  drops  stones  every  year,  boulders 
from  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Newfoundland,  are  certainly 
dropped  in  Conception  Bay  ;  and  probably  the  banks  off  the 
coast  are  strewed  with  similar  mixed  drift.  Bergs  ground  on 
the  banks  every  year,  and  some  have  been  seen  loaded  with 
stones.  Strise  and  drift  on  shore  in  Newfoundland  indicate 
large  land-glaciers.  The  shape  of  the  country  seems  due  to 
some  more  powerful  denuding  engine,  moving  as  the  Arctic 
Current  now  moves ;  but  no  glacial  striae  were  found  at  the 
only  isthmus  crossed.  The  interior  is  unexplored,  and  the 
whole  is  very  difficult  of  access.  Indians  who  use  bows  and 
arrows,  and  large  wild  animals  of  northern  type  have  the 
land  in  possession ;  the  coast  is  occupied  by  fishermen,  and 
by  merchants  who  deal  chiefly  in  fish  and  seal-oil. 

In  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  strife  seem  to  indi- 
cate the  passage  of  sea-ice.  A  current  passing  south-west- 
wards from  Newfoundland  would  be  turned  aside  by  high 
grounds  near  Halifax.  Striae  in  the  town  of  Halifax  point  N. 
55°  W.,  through  a  gap  which  leads  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  At 
a  height  of  550  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  summit-level  of  the 

VOL.  II.  R 


242  BELLEISLE   CURRENT. 

railway  between  Halifax  and  Windsor,  strife  point  N.  35°  W. 
The  current  which  flows  S.W.  through  the  Straits  of  Belleisle 
would  contimie  its  direct  S.W.  course  through  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  if  the  low  isthmus  were  gone.  At  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  striae  in  the  town  and  beside  the  suspension- 
bridge  point  N.  20°  E.,  N.,  and  N.  25°  E.  The  same  current 
flowing  over  the  north-eastern  end  of  the  province  would  be 
turned  westward  by  high  grounds  inland.  On  a  hill  near 
Fredericton,  100  miles  inland,  and  300  feet  above  the  sea, 
strife  point  N.  35°  W.,  and  N.  87°  W.  There  are  no  high 
mountains  in  the  province,  and  these  high  grooves  aim  at  a 
distant  horizon.  Nova  Scotia,  Newfoundland,  and  Cape  Breton, 
are  glaciated  throughout,  and  strewed  with  mixed  drift. 

On  the  Canadian  side,  striae  at  Quebec  point  into  the  gulf 
and  up  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  the  land  is  terraced, 
boulders  are  perched  upon  the  high  grounds,  and  recent  shells 
have  been  found  far  above  the  sea.  These  facts  indicate  the 
passage  of  sea-ice.  The  falls  of  Montmorenci,  near  Quebec, 
have  worn  a  notch  in  a  terrace  of  rock,  above  which  marine 
shells  are  found.  The  size  of  the  notch  is  a  measure  of  the 
time  which  has  elapsed  since  the  shell-beds  and  the  terrace  of 
erosion  were  raised  above  the  sea  ;  for  the  river  only  began  to 
work  at  this  point  when  the  land  rose.  This  tool-mark  is  well 
seen  from  the  town  of  Quebec  on  a  clear  day,  when  the  notch 
is  filled  with  dark  shadow,  and  the  terrace  is  a  line  of  light. 

In  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  and 
New  York  ;  from  latitude  45°  to  40°  40' ;  striae  found  during 
this  trip,  in  the  latitudes  in  which  icebergs  now  abound  farther 
east,  appear  to  coincide  with  the  probable  run  of  an  arctic 
current  flowing  over  the  land  3000  feet  above  the  present 
high-water  mark,  or  less.  Such  a  current  would  continue  its 
course  from  N.E.  to  S.Wr.  on  the  Canadian  side,  and  would 


AMERICA.  243 

be  turned  westwards  by  mountains  which  now  separate  the  St. 
Lawrence  basin  from  the  Atlantic  slope.  The  reflected  currents 
would  flow  from  N.W.  to  S.E.,  as  they  do  at  the  northern 
end  of  Newfoundland  and  off  the  Labrador  coast.  Stria?-  at 
high  levels  point  towards  the  Straits  of  Belleisle,  where  the 
Arctic  Current  is  turned  aside.  Strife  at  low  levels  on  the 
Atlantic  slope  converge  upon  distant  mountain-passes,  which 
would  be  sea-straits  meeting  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  if 
the  land  were  sufficiently  submerged  ;  and  the  Arctic  Current 
would  then  flo\v  through  these  passes.  Horizontal  striae  on 
the  shoulder  of  the  highest  peak  in  this  district  aim  N.  25° 
E.  and  N.  20°  E.,  at  1992  and  2307  feet  above  the  sea.  If 
these  marks  on  Mount  Washington,  in  lat.  44°  15',  were 
made  by  heavy  icebergs  floating  through  a  strait  like  Belle- 
isle,  the  nearest  land  on  the  horizon  was  then  far  away. 
Lines  produced  in  the  direction  of  these  marks  skirt  the 
sources  of  the  St.  John  and  Penobscot  rivers,  which  flow 
into  the  Atlantic,  and  of  the  Chaudiere,  which  falls  into  the 
St.  Lawrence  near  Quebec.  In  this  direction  the  land  is  far 
lower  than  the  shoulder  of  Mount  Washington.  Produced  in 
the  other  direction,  these  lines  pass  over  Long  Island  near 
New  York.  There,  glaciation  is  conspicuous  in  the  latitude 
of  Madrid,  as  it  is  in  the  park  at  Stockholm  ;  but  the  direction 
of  movement  was  different  at  the  low  level  of  New  York. 
Two  hundred  miles  away  from  the  White  Mountains  striae 
near  the  top  of  the  Catskill  range,  at  1935  above  the  sea,  point 
N.  40°  E.  over  low  grounds,  up  the  valley  of  the  Hudson, 
into  the  wide  pass  which  now  contains  Lake  George  and  Lake 
Champlain,  and  which  lately  contained  the  bones  of  a  whale 
buried  in  drift.  In  the  other  direction,  this  mark  aims  into  a  gap. 
On  the  watershed  of  the  gap,  at  2115  feet  above  the  sea,  a  com- 
plicated system  of  cross  marks  aim  N.  77°  E.,  and  S.  77°  E. 


244  BELLEISLE   CURRENT. 

Ill  the  opposite  direction,  all  these  point  into  a  hollow,  which 
would  be  a  strait  passing  through  the  Catskill  range  west- 
wards if  the  sea  were  2200  feet  deeper  than  it  is  now.  These 
sets,  the  highest  marks  observed,  point  N.  and  E.  At  lower 
levels  the  marks  aim  at  passes  N.  and  W.  For  a  distance  of  12 
miles,  and  up  to  a  height  of  1800  feet,  horizontal  striae  on  the 
Catskill  escarpment,  and  in  the  low  country  beneath  it,  aim  at 
the  lowest  ground  on  the  distant  horizon,  which  is  between 
the  Adirondak  and  Green  Mountains,  and  leads  through  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  back  to  the  gulf.  This  certainly 
was  a  sea-strait  when  the  whale  swam  in  it. 

Fifty-seven  miles  below  Albany,  on  the  Hudson,  near 
high-water  mark  at  Barry  town,  opposite  to  the  southern  end 
of  the  Catskill  range,  the  striae  turn  and  point  N".  8°  W.  At 
New  York,  in  the  central  park  and  near  Broadway,  about  lat. 
40°  40',  at  six  different  stations,  strice  aim  N.  21°,  30°,  36°,  37°, 
39°,  45°  W.  Some  of  the  stones  in  this  central  park  contain 
large  plates  of  mica,  and  may  have  come  from  the  White 
Mountains,  or  from  the  "azoic"  regions  about  the  Adirondaks. 
Others  may  have  come  from  Labrador,  for  they  match  rocks 
in  that  country.  Further  north,  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  a 
system  of  marks  seems  to  converge  upon  a  chain  of  lakes 
in  Maine.  A  line  produced  N.  55°  W.  from  Eastport  strikes 
the  Pemadumcook  Lake.  Lines  produced  N.  14°  W.,  and  N. 
28°  W.  from  Portland,  avoid  the  White  Mountains,  which  are 
visible  at  a  distance  of  90  miles,  and  strike  the  Mooselook- 
maguutic  Lake  near  Saddleback  Mountain,  about  lat.  45°. 
These  converge  upon  a  low  watershed.  A  line  produced  N. 
25°  W.  from  Boston  skirts  the  western  side  of  the  White 
Mountains,  and  enters  a  wide  pass  which  leads  to  Canada. 
If  the  direction  of  the  highest  strife  of  this  series  be  taken 
as  the  direction  of  the  main  arctic  stream,  N.  25°  E.  to  S.  25° 


AMERICA.  245 

W.,  it  would  strike  against  the  White  Mountains,  Green 
Mountains,  Adirondaks,  and  Catskills,  and  glance  westwards  to 
Eastport,  Portland,  Boston,  Albany,  and  New  York.  It  would 
escape  from  passes  in  the  main  range,  as  the  Arctic  Current 
now  escapes  through  the  Spotted  Islands  off  Labrador,  and 
through  deeps  between  the  sunken  banks  off  Newfoundland. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  mountains,  marks  in  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  correspond  in  direction.  At  Montreal 
Mountain,  striae  point  N.E.  magnetic ;  at  Brockville,  they 
point  N.  45°  E.  true  ;  at  Niagara  Falls  N.  20°  and  N.  5°  E. ; 
at  Buffalo  N.  20°  and  N.  13°  E.  But,  while  a  general  south- 
westerly direction  is  thus  marked  by  strong  deep  lines,  other 
lines  cross  in  all  directions.  At  Brockville,  for  instance,  a 
deep  groove  three  or  four  feet  wide  aims  N.  45°  E.,  and  all 
lines  in  it  down  to  hair-lines  aim  in  the  same  direction  ; 
but  on  a  neighbouring  rock  a  cross  system  of  smaller  grooves 
aims  N.W.  almost  at  right  angles  to  the  general  direction  ; 
and  at  Prescott,  the  only  marks  found  aimed  N.  20°  W. 
The  water-lines  of  the  great  lakes  and  rivers  are  not  striated, 
though  much  worn  by  winter  ice.  These  variations  in  a 
wide  plain  accord  with  the  erratic  movements  of  icebergs  in 
summer,  the  strong  markings  seem  to  agree  with  the  general 
combined  movement  of  the  spring  drift. 

So  far  these  fixed  marks  agree  with  the  probable  move- 
ments of  an  arctic  current.  In  order  to  make  the  marks,  a 
polar  land-glacier  would  have  to  climb  more  than  2000  feet 
out  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  over  the  shoulder  of  Mount 
Washington.  According  to  other  marks  it  also  climbed  over 
the  watershed  of  the  St.  Lawrence  into  the  Mississippi  basin, 
and  reached  lat.  39°,  which  seems  an  impossible  feat  for  land- 
ice  to  accomplish. 

Though  other  observers  have  found  striated  rocks  south 


246  BELLEISLE   CURRENT. 

of  Buffalo,  in  the  central  district  none  were  found  during 
this  expedition.  All  the  rock-surfaces  found  in  the  Western 
States  were  either  weathered  or  water-worn,  though  many 
were  newly  uncovered.  Fossils  project  half  an  inch  at  many 
spots.  But  glaciated  boulders  were  found  near  St.  Louis,  at 
Indianapolis,  Lafayette,  Fort  Wayne,  Crestline,  Upper  San- 
dusky,  and  many  other  places  near  the  watershed  of  tribu- 
taries of  the  Ohio  and  St.  Lawrence.  Many  were  found 
between  lat.  39°  and  40°,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  Not 
one  south  of  39°  in  these  states,  or  south  of  41°  in  Western 
Pennsylvania.  At  St.  Louis,  Vinceunes,  Louisville,  Cincinnati, 
and  Pittsburg  ;  along  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  beside  railways, 
no  single  specimen  could  be  discovered.  At  these  places,  and 
in  Kentucky,  further  south,  near  lat.  3  7°,  the  rocks  are  covered 
by  thick  beds  of  pure  clay  and  fine  sand.  South  of  a  line  drawn 
from  lat.  41°,  long.  81°,  diagonally,  south  and  west,  to  lat.  39°, 
long.  90°,  near  St.  Louis,  no  glaciated  boulders  were  found.  A 
short  distance  north  of  the  line,  blocks  of  Laurentian  gneiss 
as  big  as  bullocks  are  scattered  broadcast  over  the  flat  prairies. 
The  nearest  fixed  rocks  of  the  kind  are  about  Lake  Superior, 
but  stones  of  the  very  same  size,  pattern,  and  material,  are  on 
the  top  of  the  Catskill  range,  on  the  top  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tains, on  the  shoulder  of  Mount  Washington,  on  the  highest 
ground  near  Buffalo,  on  the  high  grounds  near  Niagara,  at 
Brockville,  on  Montreal  Mountain,  at  Quebec,  on  hills  be- 
side the  Straits  of  Belleisle,  on  islands  near  Hamilton  Inlet  in 
Labrador.  Similar  stones  are  strewed  over  Newfoundland, 
Cape  Breton,  and  Nova  Scotia,  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  and  all  down  the  Atlantic  coast  as  far  as  New  York. 
None  were  found  at  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Harrisburg,  or 
Washington.  Water-worn  drift  abounds  at  all  these  places, 
but  no  striated  gneiss  boulders  were  found  there.  On  the  banks 


AMERICA.  247 

of  the  Potomac  and  at  Washington  are  large  stones  in  clay, 
but  none  of  those  found  were  striated.  At  Harrisburg  is  a 
similar  deposit.  Icebergs  and  rafts  of  coast-ice  are  carrying 
northern  drift  stones  in  the  Atlantic,  and  if  America  were 
submerged  the  Arctic  Current  might  carry  them  as  far  as  lat.  39°, 
long.  90°,  for  Atlantic  bergs  reach  lat.  37°  in  long.  47°  W.  If 
a  polar  glacier  carried  these  stones  they  ought  to  be  found  in 
great  moraine  heaps  at  the  end,  but  nothing  like  a  terminal 
moraine  exists  in  the  prairies.  For  hundreds  of  miles  the  plains 
are  almost  as  flat  as  the  sea,  and  where  the  country  rolls,  sheets 
of  drift  cover 'the  rolling  plain,  as  snow  covers  it  in  winter. 
The  stones  and  clay  were  surely  dropped  from  melting  ice- 
rafts,  as  snow  is  shed  from  clouds,  and  as  stones  are  now  sown 
in  the  Atlantic  : — broadcast.  Observations  made  in  America 
so  far  agree  with  observations  made  in  Europe. 

In  a  series  of  papers  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  1864, 
Agassiz  attributes  glacial  phenomena  to  polar  glaciers  which 
reached  lat.  36°  at  least,  and  were  6000  feet  thick  in  lat.  44°. 
A  theory  espoused  by  Ramsay,  Geikie,  Sir  W.  Logan,  Agassiz, 
and  such  men,  is  worthy  of  careful  investigation.  The  obser- 
vations above  recorded  seem  rather  to  indicate  the  action  of 
polar  currents,  like  those  which  exist,  than  the  existence  of 
polar  glaciers  of  these  dimensions.  The  facts  above  stated  may 
swell  the  pile  on  which  a  just  opinion  must  be  founded  at  last. 
The  question  turns  on  the  denuding  power  of  the  Atlantic  drift. 
The  forms  into  which  the  land  has  been  ground  by  some  ice- 
engine  closely  resemble  glacier-work ;  if  the  Atlantic  drift 
is  too  small  to  account  for  the  work,  the  polar  glacier  is  the 
only  resource.  After  seeing  glaciers  and  sea-icebergs  at  work, 
and  hearing  the  accounts  of  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
polar  sea-drift,  the  writer  holds  to  the  opinion  expressed  above, 
and  takes  his  stand  on  the  iceberg  for  the  present. 


(II 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

GLACIAL    PEKIODS. 

ONE  general  conclusion  arrived  at  is,  that  the  mean  tempera- 
ture at  the  earth's  surface  may  now  be  as  cold  as  it  has  ever 
been,  though  climate  has  varied  at  particular  spots. 

In  Britain,  for  instance,  there  has  been  a  recent  "  glacial 
period,"  whose  marks  are  perfectly  fresh  ;  but  according  to 
theory,  partly  founded  upon  these  marks,  it  was  a  period  like 
that  which  now  prevails  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  and 
the  coasts  of  Labrador. 

Mr.  Hopkins  (quoted  by  Lyell,  chap,  vii.,  Principles  of 
Geology,  9th  edition,  1853)  calculated  in  1852  that  the  snow- 
line  and  glaciers  would  reach  the  sea  in  Wales  and  Ireland — 

1.  If  the  Gulf  Stream  were  diverted. 

2.  If  land  in  Northern  Europe  were  depressed  500  feet. 

3.  If  a  cold  current  swept  over  the  submerged  area  simul- 

taneously. 

The  British  marks  above  described  seem  to  prove  that  a 
cold  current  did  sweep  south-westwards  over  Great  Britain, 
at  a  time  when  the  land  was  submerged  about  3000  feet ;  and 
that  glaciers  did  reach  the  sea  in  these  countries  till  land 
rose  to  the  level  of  1400  feet,  or  thereabouts. 

There  has  also  been  a  recent  glacial  period  in  North 
America,  but,  according  to  theory,  it  was  only  the  marine 
climate,  which  now  exists  to  the  east  in  corresponding  lati- 


250  GLACIAL  PERIODS. 

tudes.  Sir  C.  Lyell  has  pointed  out  that  the  glacial  period  of 
the  Southern  Hemisphere  comes  still  nearer  to  the  Equator ; 
and  if  similar  conditions  prevailed  in  the  northern  half  of 
the  world,  the  cold  might  drift  as  far  there. 

In  chap,  vii.,  Principles  of  Geology,  it  is  pointed  out  that 
Captain  Cook  found  snow  many  fathoms  thick  extending 
down  to  the  brink  of  sea-cliffs  in  lat.  59°  S.,  which  corresponds 
to  Northern  Scotland  ;  and  that  he  found  the  perpetual  snow- 
line  coincident  with  the  sea-level  in  lat.  54°  S.,  which  corre- 
sponds to  Yorkshire. 

In  the  Illustrated  London  News  of  18th  June  1864,  is  a 
woodcut  and  a  description  of  a  collision  with  an  iceberg  on 
the  4th  of  April  1864,  in  latitude  54°  40'  S.  About  midway 
between  Melbourne  and  Cape  Horn,  the  screw-steamer  '  Royal 
Standard,'  while  sailing  with  a  strong  breeze,  suddenly  ran 
into  a  dense  fog,  and  shortly  afterwards  she  ran  against  a  cliff 
"  six  hundred"  feet  high.  After  bumping  and  scraping  along 
this  floating  island  for  more  than  half  a  mile,  and  suffering 
great  damage,  the  vessel  rounded  the  end  of  the  cliff  and  so 
escaped.  She  made  her  way  under  jury-masts  to  Eio  de 
Janeiro.  In  the  earlier  months  of  the  same  year,  the  Himalaya 
and  other  vessels  returning  from  Melbourne  found  these  seas 
"  beset  with  icebergs."  At  the  rate  of  l-9th  above  water,  this 
berg  was  5400  feet  thick,  4800  feet  under  water,  and  600 
above.  In  latitudes  corresponding  to  the  Mourne  mountains, 
the  Solway  Firth,  Cumberland,  and  Durham,  the  sea  is  beset 
with  hills  of  ice  a  great  deal  thicker  than  all  that  is  visible  of 
the  British  Isles.  If  the  sea  were  level  with  the  top  of  Ben 
Nevis,  a  berg  of  this  size  might  touch  the  top,  scrape  the 
bottom  of  Loch  Linne,  500  feet  b'elow  the  present  sea-level,  and 
rise  600  feet  above  water  still.  Changes  of  climate,  and 
glacial  denudation,  which  such  fleets  might  accomplish,  are 


GLACIAL  PERIODS.  251 

not  easy  to  calculate.  Sailors,  familiar  with  bergs  off  New- 
foundland, affirm  that  even  these  are  insignificant  to  bergs 
commonly  seen  off  Cape  Horn. 

There  are  plenty  of  glaciers  in  New  Zealand,  about  Cape 
Horn,  and  in  South  America  ;  and  very  large  icebergs,  150, 
250,  and  300  feet  high,  and  two  miles  in  circumference,  have 
been  seen  adrift  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  between  lat.  36° 
and  39°.  These  last  were  in  latitudes  which  correspond  to 
Gibraltar,  parts  of  Africa,  Syria,  Cyprus,  Candia,  Asia  Minor, 
Persia,  Cabool,  Japan,  and  Washington. 

Sir  Charles  Lyell  long  ago  imagined  possible  distributions 
of  land  and  sea  which  might,  as  he  argues,  produce  great 
general  changes  of  climate  over  the  whole  earth.* 

Having  climbed  thus  far,  some  well-established  facts 
begin  to  wear  a  different  aspect. 

If  marks  in  Scandinavia  and  Britain  do  in  fact  prove  that 
a  cold  current  changed  the  climate  of  Western  Europe,  then 
similar  currents  may  have  done  as  much  elsewhere.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  assume  a  general  glacial  period  in  past  time, 
because  marks  of  ice  are  found  on  rocks  in  countries  where 
the  climate  is  now  excessively  hot. 

It  is  proved  that  glacial  action  once  extended  a  great  way 
from  the  Swiss  mountains  ;  and  that  fact  has  been  used  to 
support  the  argument  for  a  period  of  intense  cold.  But  if 
ever  there  was  a  Baltic  current  east  of  England,  Switzerland 
was  on  the  other  side  of  it,  and  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees  must 
have  shared  the  influence  which  chilled  Scotland. 

The  highest  Swiss  mountains  are  about  15,000  feet  above 
the  sea  ;  their  perpetual  snow-line  is  at  about  8500,  and  glaciers 

*  In  his  address,  Sept.  14,  1864,  at  Bath,  he  attributes  a  former  extension 
of  alpine  glaciers  to  the  submergence  of  land,  now  the  Sahara,  where  marine 
shells  have  been  found. 


252  GLACIAL  PERIODS. 

slide  to  within  3000  feet  of  the  sea-level  now.  The  mean 
temperature  below  is  about  55° ;  but  if  Western  Europe  were 
sunk  3000  feet  or  more,  to  the  level  of  boulders  on  Beinn 
Wyvis  and  Driom  Uachdar  in  Scotland,  and  on  the  Dovre- 
fjeld  in  Scandinavia,  then  the  Baltic  Current,  which  carried 
Scandinavian  boulders  into  Poland,  might  also  wash  the  base 
of  the  Alps.  They  are  in  the  latitude  of  Nova  Scotia,  where 
the  mean  coast  temperature  is  41°  instead  of  55°.  At  this 
rate  the  high  Alps  would  still  be  10,000  and  12,000  feet 
above  the  sea-level,  in  regions  where  Glaisher  found  snow 
falling  above  England,  in  June  1863,  when  the  surface  tem- 
perature was  66°.  Alps  12,000  feet  high,  with  a  mean  tem- 
perature of  41°  at  the  base,  and  a  cold  sea  passing  westwards, 
might  well  breed  glaciers  large  enough  to  be  launched  as  ice- 
bergs if  Scotland  and  Scandinavia  were  chilled  and  frozen  also. 
When  the  land  rose,  these  alpine  glaciers  would  dwindle  if 
the  climate  warmed  as  the  sea  fell,  but  they  might  take  a 
long  time  to  shrink  to  their  present  size.* 

Cold  is  not  easily  driven  from  a  fortress  of  which  it  has 
long  held  possession.  It  takes  a  long  time  to  get  the  winter's 
frost  "out  of  the  ground."  If  the  tail  of  the  polar  glacial 
system  passed  near  the  Alps,  existing  glaciers  may  be  rem- 
nants of  a  large  local  system,  like  that  which  once  covered 
Scandinavia,  and  is  now  dwindling  away  there. 

If  the  Mediterranean  were  the  receptacle  of  an  arctic 
current  laden  with  icebergs  launched  from  the  Alps,  and  drift- 
ing over  France,  Italy,  Austria,  and  low  lands  then  under 
the  sea,  there  might  be  a  local  glacier  system  in  Syria,  and 
icebergs  in  latitudes  which  correspond  to  seas  off  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

*  Hitchcock,  an  eminent  American  geologist,  found  what  he  considered  to 
he  ancient  sea-beaches,  at  about  3000  feet  above  the  sea,  in  Switzerland. 


GLACIAL  PERIODS.  253 

Hooker  found  an  ancient  moraine  beside  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  and  photographs  of  the  Holy  Land  show  rock-forms 
which  strongly  resemble  ice-work. 

Still  further  south,  in  Africa,  snowy  mountains  now  exist. 
If  the  cold  stream  ran  that  way,  these  may  have  bred  glaciers 
at  the  Equator  itself. 

As  described  by  Captain  Grant  in  a  lecture  before  the 
Ethnological  Society,  in  June  1863,  the  country  about  the 
source  of  the  Nile  has  a  glaciated  form.  Some  parts  of  it  were 
said  to  consist  of  "  flat-topped  hills,  with  outbursts  of  granite  ; 
rounded  masses  are  lying  upon  each  other  ;  there  are  saddle- 
backed  hills  whose  western  faces  are  steep  and  broken  ;  and 
large  loose  stones  are  scattered  about."  As  snow  was  in  sight, 
and  moraines  are  in  the  Lebanon,  as  the  climate  of  this 
raised  African  plain  is  temperate  now,  a  glacial  period  is 
possible  even  about  the  sources  of  the  Nile.* 

In  Central  Asia  is  a  large  system  of  local  glaciers  in  the 
Himalayas,  which  are  well  described  by  Hooker.  According 
to  that  traveller  these  glaciers  are  now  dwindling  away,  for 
their  marks  extend  far  beyond  their  present  limits.  Are  we 
therefore  bound  to  assume  that  the  whole  world  is  getting 
warmer  ? 

The  snow-line  of  the  Himalayas  is  now  at  15,000  feet, 
and  the  mean  temperature  at  Delhi  is  73°.  On  the  coast  of 
China,  in  the  latitude  of  Delhi,  the  mean  temperature  is  64°, 
according  to  Dove's  Isotherms.  But  if  Behring's  Straits  were 
wider,  the  climate  on  the  eastern  coast  of  China  would  suffer. 
There  is  a  cold  current  there  now,  it  would  be  colder.  Accord- 
ing to  Kotzebue,  there  is  a  striking  contrast  in  the  vegeta- 

*  This  guess  is  left  as  first  printed.  It  is  not  founded  on  any  personal 
knowledge  of  the  place  ;  but  as  the  Sahara  is  now  proved  to  be  a  recent  sea- 
bottom,  Alpine  or  Scandinavian  boulders  may  be  found  there. 


254  GLACIAL  PERIODS. 

tion  on  opposite  coasts  in  Bearing's  Straits,  where  no  wider 
than  the  Straits  of  Dover ;  the  western  American  coast 
is  well-wooded,  but  the  eastern  Asian  coast  is  bare  and 
barren.  A  current  runs  inwards  on  the  American  side,  and 
a  miniature  arctic  current  is  believed  to  run  out  on  the  Asian 
side. 

But  if  Behring's  Straits  were  as  wide  as  the  North  Atlantic 
between  Greenland  and  Scandinavia,  so  as  to  spill  the  Arctic 
Current  south-westward  along  the  mountains  of  Chinese 
Tartary,  and  over  the  low  grounds  of  eastern  Asia  past  the 
Himalayas,  and  over  India ;  then,  even  though  the  glacier- 
system  of  the  Himalayas  were  lowered  nearer  to  the  earth's 
centre  out  of  the  cold  and  into  the  heat,  the  cold  would  gain 
if  the  sea  were  chilled,  and  the  mean  temperature  at  the  foot 
of  the  hills  changed  from  73°  to  64°,  or  to  some  lower  tem- 
perature. 

If  mountains  28,000  feet  high  were  lowered  to  18,000,  and 
stood  in  chilled  water,  with  a  climate  like  that  of  England  at 
the  coast,  then  the  snow-line  would  be  lowered,  and  Indian 
mountains  might  well  breed  larger  glaciers. 

They  might  even  launch  icebergs,  and  send  stone-fleets 
south-westwards  to  choke  harbours  on  the  African  coast,  and 
do  glacial  work  about  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 

In  North  America  a  glacial  period  reached  latitudes 
which  icebergs  now  reach  in  the  Atlantic,  and  it  appears 
that  the  continent  was  submerged  about  3000  feet  during 
some  part  of  the  "  glacial  period."  Eminent  men  hold  that  it 
was  a  period  of  intense  cold  and  enormous  glaciers.  The 
writer  believes  that  it  was  a  period  very  like  the  present, 
during  which  the  Arctic  Current  has  changed  its  course,  and 
land  has  risen  and  sunk  about  3000  feet. 

The  changes  of  level  required  to  swamp  continents  and 


GLACIAL  PERIODS.  255 

change  the  course  of  ocean-currents,  are  not  so  large  as  may 
be  supposed. 

500  feet  would  sink  the  source  of  the  Volga  and  drown 
the  most  of  Europe. 

2850  feet  would  sink  the  source  of  the  Danube  ;  4500 
would  sink  the  Elbe  ;  1250  feet  would  sink  the  lake  of  Con- 
stance ;  800  feet  Basle  ;  1400  feet  the  Clyde  ;  and  boulders 
are  perched  on  higher  European  watersheds,  in  Scandinavia, 
Scotland,  Wales,  Ireland,  and  central  Europe. 

At  4575  feet,  on  the  Dovrefjeld,  granite  blocks  are  on 
mica  slate  (Von  Buch,  etc.) 

At  3000  feet,  on  Beinn  Wyvis,  mica-schist  is  upon  slate. 

At  3000  feet,  on  Driom  Uachdar,  gray  granite  is  on  slate. 
All  these  are  at  places  where  transport  by  local  glaciers  is 
out  of  the  question.  On  the  Jura  mountains,  erratics  derived 
from  the  Alps  are  common  at  about  3600  feet,  and  they  too 
may  have  floated  on  ice-rafts,  according  to  this  theory  of  a 
sunken  land  now  raised  in  Europe. 

In  Asia,  the  Ganges  runs  out  of  a  glacier  at  13,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  How  much  would  sink  China  is  not  ascer- 
tained, but  most  of  India  would  be  drowned  by  a  depression 
of  4000  feet. 

In  America,  630  feet  would  sink  Lake  Superior,  and  the 
bottom  of  Lake  Ontario  is  below  the  sea-level  now.  If 
ancient  fossil-shells  of  marine  origin  are  sea-marks,  most  of  the 
high  land  in  the  world  has  been  under  the  sea  at  some  time. 

If  terraces  be  sea-marks,  there  are  terraces  on  Snowdon,  and 
on  the  Alps,  according  to  Hitchcock,  at  3000  feet ;  high  up  on 
the  Himalayas,  according  to  Hooker ;  and  at  about  3000  feet 
on  the  White  Mountains  in  North  America.  Sea-shells  were 
found  at  3000  feet  on  Snowdon,  by  Mr.  Baumgarten,  in  1847. 

There   are  cold  climates,  glaciers,  and  glacial   action  in 


256  GLACIAL  PERIODS. 

spots  all  over  the  world,  wherever  mountains  are  high  enough 
to  reach  the  cold,  so  as  to  catch  and  condense  the  clouds. 
If  such  hills  stand  on  the  western  side  of  an  ocean  stretching 
nearly  from  pole  to  pole,  and  are  washed  by  a  cold  stream,  as 
in  Greenland,  any  quantity  of  glacier-work  yet  found  may 
be  accounted  for,  without  assuming  any  great  universal 
change  of  climate  at  the  distance  from  the  earth's  centre 
which  is  now  high-water  mark. 

Though  climate  has  changed  place,  it  is  not  proved  that 
the  snow-line  has  sunk  and  risen  again  everywhere. 

One  of  the  last  writers  who  have  specially  studied  this 
subject,  in  speaking  of  Scotland,  says  : — 

"  In  whatever  way  the  change  was  brought  about,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  when  the  land  began  once  more  to  rise  the  temperature  had 
likewise  risen." 

This  accords  entirely  with  what  has  been  said  above. 
But  the  following  passages  from  the  same  page  do  not : — 

"  The  submergence  of  a  large  tract  of  land  would  tend  to  ameliorate 
the  climate.  .  .  .  The  depression  seems  to  have  been  general  over  the 
north  of  Europe,  though  probably  varying  greatly  in  extent  in  different 
regions."  * 

According  to  the  theory  now  submitted  to  the  merciful 
consideration  of  able  judges,  any  depression  of  land  that  lets 
an  arctic  or  antarctic  current  flow  past  an  eastern  coast  will 
not  ameliorate  but  spoil  a  good  climate  ;  and  such  depressions 
in  Europe  and  elsewhere  probably  caused  the  last  "glacial 
period"  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland ;  perhaps  in  the  Alps 
and  Pyrenees,  Italy,  Greece,  Syria,  India,  America,  and  it 
may  be  in  Nubia  also. 

There  is  yet  another  theory  which  will  account  for  larger 

*  On  the  Phenomena  of  the  Glacial  Drift  of  Scotland,  by  Archibald  Geikie. 
Glasgow,  John  Gray,  99  Hutchison  Street.  1863.  P.  102. 


GLACIAL  PERIODS.  257 

glaciers  if  icebergs  of  the  dimensions  described  are  too  small 
to  account  for  the  ice-marks.  * 

It  may  seem  paradoxical,  but  if  the  general  temperature 
of  the  earth's  upper  crust  were  a  little  warmer,  and  solar 
radiation  the  same,  there  might  be  more  glacial  action. 

The  southern  slopes  of  the  Himalayas  ought  to  be  warmer 
than  the  northern,  and  glaciers  ought  to  abound  most  in  the 
coldest  side,  if  glaciers  resulted  from  cold  alone.  It  is  not  so 
in  fact,  because  glaciers  result  from  cold  and  heat.  Many 
English  sportsmen  have  described  these  regions.  Hooker 
gives  a  reason  for  the  abundance  of  glaciers  on  the  warmest 
side  of  the  hills ;  Maury  tries  to  explain  like  facts,  in  America 
and  elsewhere,  in  his  "  sailing  directions." 

There  is  often  a  clear  hard  sky  to  the  north,  behind  the 
ridge,  when  the  southern  districts  are  shrouded  in  mist,  and 
deluged  with  rain,  below  the  snow-line.  Warm  moist  equa- 
torial winds  which  sweep  over  the  hot  plains  of  India  come 
loaded  with  transparent  vapour.  While  thus  expanded,  the 
vapour  only  serves  to  intensify  the  heat  by  refracting  the 
sun's  rays  like  a  lens,  but  when  these  hot  wet  winds  meet 
the  cold  air  of  the  high  mountains,  they  are  cooled  and  con- 
tract, the  vapour  is  condensed  into  mist,  the  lens  is  spoiled, 
and  the  clouds  drop  their  loads  while  they  screen  the  snow 
from  the  sun.  These  big  snow-heaps  spread  an  awning  of 
cloud  in  the  air,  to  shield  them  from  light. 

The  winds  which  pass  over  the  Himalayas  have  but  a 
scanty  remnant  of  their  store  to  bestow  upon  the  northern 
slopes  and  high  plateaus  of  central  Asia  ;  they  carry  little  to 
the  polar  regions,  to  which  the  cargo  was  first  consigned.  To 
use  Maury's  illustration,  the  wet  is  squeezed  out  by  cold,  as 

*  For  a  theory  of  this  kind,  see  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  1864  ;  and  a 
lecture  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution,  by  Dr.  Frankland,  Jan.  29,  1864. 
VOL.  II.  S 


258  GLACIAL  PERIODS. 

water  is  wrung  from  a  sponge.  There  is  a  clear  sky  on  the 
northern  side,  and  the  snow  which  does  fall  there  melts 
rapidly,  or  evaporates,  because  the  sun's  rays  are  but  little 
impeded  by  clouds  in  the  lens  of  air. 

If  there  were  more  water  in  the  air  generally,  there  would 
be  more  clouds ;  and  these  would  form  most  at  the  coldest 
spots,  because,  in  the  Himalayas  and  elsewhere,  that  is  the 
result  of  evaporation  and  condensation  on  the  largest  scale. 

A  confirmation  of  this  opinion  is  given  by  the  weather  of 
1863,  1864.  In  Britain  and  Canada  the  summers  were  very 
warm  and  bright ;  in  Labrador  and  Newfoundland  unusually 
cold  and  very  misty.  There  was  more  evaporation  at  one 
place,  and  more  condensation  elsewhere. 

If  the  whole  of  the  sea  were  frozen,  there  could  be  few 
clouds  ;  but  if  the  whole  world  were  warmer,  there  would 
be  more  evaporation  everywhere,  swifter  movements,  more 
condensation  about  the  Poles,  and  more  glacial  action  at  high 
levels  and  latitudes. 

The  same  thing  takes  place  in  Scandinavia,  apparently 
for  the  same  reason. 

Warm  wet  south-westers,  loaded  with  moisture,  picked  up 
from  the  warm  Gulf  Stream,  fly  over  the  sea  and  the  low 
islands  off  Scotland,  but  they  begin  to  drip  as  soon  as  they 
get  to  high  land.  The  rain-fall  at  Inverary  and  Gairloch  is 
far  greater  than  in  the  Western  Isles  and  Shetland  ;  but 
when  the  clouds  reach  the  snowy  land  about  Bergen,  they 
pour.  About  the  glacier  districts  there  are  floods  and  snow- 
storms when  there  is  clear  weather  close  at  hand.  When  the 
winds  get  to  the  high  grounds,  about  higher  watersheds 
further  to  the  north  and  east,  they  have  still  a  remnant  of 
snow  for  Sneehaetten,  but  there  is  not  enough  to  make  snow- 
domes  and  glaciers.  The  summer  sun  clears  most  of  Scan- 


GLACIAL  PEKIODS.  259 

dinavia,  because  the  sky  is  generally  clear  to  the  east  of  the 
hills,  and  the  sky  is  clear  because  Bergen  and  the  west  coast 
glaciers  have  cleared  it.  From  Bodals  Kaabe,  glaciers  stream 
down  almost  into  the  sea  ;  but  there  is  no  glacier  worthy  of 
the  name  at  8000  feet  above  the  sea  further  east,  and  still 
further  inland,  at  Sneehsetten  and  Eoraas  (chaps,  xiv.  to  xviii.) 

The  Bergen  glaciers  catch  the  Scotch  clouds  when  they 
land,  and  hold  them  till  they  are  well-nigh  drained. 

Sntefell,  in  Iceland,  is  another  case  in  point.  It  stands 
far  to  the  west,  and  has  a  local  glacier  system  ;  it  often 
gathers  clouds  from  a  clear  sky,  and  rivulets  pour  down  from 
it  while  neighbouring  tops  are  clear  of  mist  and  snow,  and 
rivers  which  flow  from  them  are  all  but  dry.  It  is  a  cloud- 
condenser,  distilling  glaciers  from  the  air. 

Iceland  itself  is  another  example.  All  the  large  glacier- 
systems  are  on  the  south,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  island  ;  no 
glaciers  approach  the  sea  on  the  northern  coast  (chap,  xxv.) 

Every  floating  iceberg  is  surrounded  by  a  veil  of  mist, 
which  preserves  the  cold  mass  by  stopping  light.  The  wetter 
and  warmer  the  air  is,  the  thicker  is  the  fog  which  results. 
Fogs  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  near  the  borders  of  the 
hot  and  cold  water,  are  peculiarly  dense  (chaps,  xxiii.  xxiv. 
xliii.,  etc.) 

On  a  bright  day  after  a  shower  of  snow,  the  shadows  of 
posts  in  Hyde  Park  are  often  marked  out  in  lines  of  snow, 
when  the  rest  of  the  ground  has  been  cleared  by  sunlight. 
Of  two  vessels  of  water  in  sunlight  and  shade,  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  a  house,  the  one  on  which  light  falls  most  loses  most 
weight  by  evaporation. 

The  following  is  the  result  of  an  experiment.  19 }th  June 
1864. — Two  glass  vessels  intended  to  hold  milk  in  a  dairy, 
\vere  partially  filled  with  garden  mould  and  water,  made  equal 


260  GLACIAL  PERIODS. 

in  weight,  and  exposed  on  opposite  sides  of  the  same  house — on 
the  north  side  under  a  verandah,  on  the  south  side  on  a  pillar. 
22d  June. — After  about  forty-eight  hours  weighed.  Weather 
fine ;  strong  S.W.  breezes,  and  bright  sun  during  the  day ;  clear 
sky  at  night ;  no  rain. 

Shade         .          .          .          .          .          94 J  ounces. 
Light 76 


Difference  .         .         .         .          18| 

Sun-light  is  a  force  which  lifts  water,  but  it  is  turned  aside 
by  any  screen  which  casts  a  dark  shade. 

But  if  the  whole  earth  were  warmer,  the  sea  would  be 
warmer  and  would  evaporate  faster,  to  form  more  clouds,  to 
give  more  shade  to  the  ice-condensers,  which  now  exist,  in 
spite  of  sunlight,  even  on  the  tops  of  volcanoes. 

If  Himalayan,  Scandinavian,  and  Icelandic  glaciers  exist 
because  there  is  a  warm  sea  and  a  bright  sun  at  the  Equator, 
it  seems  to  follow  that  they  would  grow  larger,  and  that 
polar  systems  would  move  faster,  and  so  get  further  into 
warm  regions,  if  more  power  were  applied  at  the  boiler-end 
of  the  caloric  engine. 

The  same  result  follows  if  more  fuel  is  burned  under  a 
still,  or  if  colder  water  is  poured  on  the  worm  ;  in  either 
case  the  liquor  flows  faster.  If  weight  be  added  in  one  scale, 
or  taken  from  the  other,  the  result  is  the  same  on  the  balance. 

Because  there  are  large  glacier  systems  in  Iceland,  close 
above  boiling  water  and  molten  stone,  there  may  have 
been  glacial  periods  on  a  far  warmer  globe.  But  the  present 
state  of  things  appears  sufficient  to  account  for  all  glacial 
phenomena  yet  observed. 

Yet  another  theory  has  been  started  to  account  for  glacial 
periods.  It  is  assumed  that  there  are  regions  in  space  which 


GLACIAL  PERIODS. 


2G1 


are  colder  than  others,  and  that  the  solar  system  passes  through 
these  frigid  zones  at  stated  periods.  These  regions  are  as  yet 
beyond  the  reach  of  a  mere  traveller,  and  the  ice-records 
which  he  has  endeavoured  to  translate  do  not  seem  to  reach 
far  back  or  recur  at  intervals.  If  anything  is  to  be  learned 
about  fossil  climates,  patient  grubbing  in  mud  and  ashes 
may  do  more  than  soaring  at  once  after  astronomers  into 
infinite  space. 

The  way  upwards  lies  downwards  at  first.  A  breaker 
falls  headlong,  but  the  spray  rises,  and  the  force  of  the  fall 
builds  up  the  sea-beach.  We  must  wade  through  water  to 
dry  land,  and  grope  in  darkness  before  we  can  reach  light. 


FIG.  91.   A  BREAKING  WAVE.     Prom  a  photograph. 


THE  END  OF  PART  I. — DENUDATION. 


CHAPTER   XLV. 
DEPOSITION  I. 

NATURAL  SCIENCE— FORCE — ENGINES — TOOLS — MARKS. 

IN  the  preceding  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  show 
that  some  branches  of  geology  may  be  studied  experimentally. 

Small  engines,  which  are  worked  by  the  natural  forces 
which  work  natural  engines,  imitate  nature  ;  and  if  all  me- 
chanics are  parts  of  one  system,  that  which  is  learned  from 
one  engine  applies  to  all.  So  in  studying  "dynamical 
geology,"  working-models  are  useful  aids. 

Men  can  neither  alter  the  laws  of  nature  nor  oppose  them 
with  success  ;  they  must  obey ;  but  they  can  work  with 
nature's  powers  by  obeying  nature's  laws.  An  engineer 
cannot  stir  a  boat  by  stuffing  a  furnace  with  ice  and  a  con- 
denser with  embers  ;  but  by  using  heat  and  cold  in  the  natural 
order  of  heat  below  and  cold  above,  pistons  are  lifted  and 
lowered,  and  steamboats  are  moved  horizontally  round  the 
world.  We  are  too  short-lived  and  short-sighted  to  see  with 
bodily  eyes  large  geological  movements  and  changes,  which, 
in  long  periods  of  time,  take  place  in  air,  sea,  and  land,  about 
us  ;  we  cannot  even  hope  to  see  the  whole  of  the  outside  of 
the  ball  on  which  we  dwell ;  we  cannot  get  at  the  inside  of 
it  at  all.  The  comprehension  of  any  part  of  this  engine  is 
out  of  our  reach,  because  we  cannot  even  see  the  works.  But 
models  may  be  worked  by  the  aid  of  natural  forces,  and  when 
the  models  are  engines  of  manageable  size,  their  mode  of 


NATURAL  SCIENCE.  263 

action  is  more  easily  understood.  We  may  learn  something 
about  the  large  engine,  by  watching  how  small  ones  work. 

There  are  many  things  which  men  know  but  cannot  ex- 
plain, many  facts  which  we  are  incapable  of  understanding. 
We  cannot  explain  why  we  fall  in  air,  sink  or  swim  in  water, 
and  stand  upon  earth.  We  know  the  facts,  but  do  not  ex- 
plain them  by  calling  a  force  "  gravitation,"  and  by  talking  of 
"gases,  fluids,  and  solids,"  and  their  "  specific  gravities."  But 
in  striving  to  reach  unattainable  knowledge,  some  has  been 
reached  which  is  power  when  applied  to  small  engines  ;  and 
which  gives  some  vague  notion  of  the  largest  engine  of  all. 
Astronomy  is  learned  from  the  fall  of  weights,  and  the  flight 
of  small  projectiles.  Geology  may,  in  like  manner,  be  learned 
from  geological  toys.  Human  minds  cannot  grasp  the  ideas  of 
infinite  size  or  smallness,  space,  time,  or  number ;  but  those 
who  think  are  driven  by  facts  to  perceive  that  these  incom- 
prehensible things  must  be.  If  there  be  a  limit  anywhere, 
what  is  beyond  it  ? 

Men  can  never  understand  the  great  engine  which  works 
in  infinite  space,  for  they  cannot  even  comprehend  an  atom  ; 
but  that  is  no  reason  for  ceasing  to  strive.  An  old  Scotch 
saw  says,  "Aim  at  a  gown  of  gowd,  and  ye '11  get  the  sleeve 
o't."  In  striving  to  understand  how  mountains  have  been 
made,  we  may  set  natural  mechanical  forces  to  build  and 
demolish  molehills  ;  we  can  construct  and  watch  our  little 
engines.  In  seeking  abstract  knowledge,  things  of  practical 
use — shreds  of  the  golden  gown — are  found.  By  experiment, 
designedly  or  accidentally  made,  men  have  learned  all  that 
they  know  about  the  engine  with  which  they  travel  through 
space  ;  and  they  have  used  their  knowledge  to  make  small 
useful  engines  to  carry  them  round  the  deck  of  their  spherical 
rolling  ship. 


264  FORGE. 

By  geological  experiment,  human  minds  may  gain  more 
knowledge  of  the  engine,  under  hatches,  and  by  imitating  it 
gain  more  power.  Engines  are  worked  only  by  using  natural 
powers  ;  these  were  found  out  while  searching  ;  the  most 
ignorant  searcher  may  chance  to  find  a  treasure,  even  on 
board  of  this  our  argosy  which  circles  round  the  sun. 

Water  and  steam  power  are  treasures,  but  only  applica- 
tions of  natural  force  to  human  engines. 

It  took  a  long  time  to  "  invent"  a  water-mill,  and  a  clock, 
and  other  engines  worked  by  weights.  The  hydraulic  cranes 
which  now  wave  their  black  iron  arms  like  living  giants,  and 
lift  and  pour  out  cauldrons  of  molten  iron  as  a  man  lifts  a 
pail  of  water,  have  only  appeared  in  modern  times  ;  but  gra- 
vitation, which  works  all  these  engines,  had  been  pouring  rivers 
and  oceans  upon  the  earth,  and  steering  it  amongst  other 
stars,  before  there  were  men  or  millers  to  use  that  natural 
mechanical  power.  Like  it,  steam  is  no  human  invention, 
and  its  application  to  engines  is  nothing  new.  It  is  told  that 
one  of  the  many  so-called  inventors  of  steam-engines  gained 
his  first  knowledge  of  steam-power  from  the  clattering  lid  of 
his  mother's  kettle.  He  was  but  a  young  discoverer,  an 
observant  scholar  and  imitator  ;  and  yet  his  mind  has  swayed 
other  minds  and  inanimate  matter,  ever  since  he  applied  the 
knowledge  which  descended  to  him  from  the  first  inventor 
of  kettles,  and  was  left  by  him  as  a  growing  fund  to  benefit 
all  engineers.  The  human  inventor  did  not  contrive  a  force  ; 
he  found  one,  and  so  gained  power  which  he  used.  There  is, 
in  fact,  no  single  mechanical  principle  in  any  human  con- 
trivance, which  had  not  been  applied  to  some  natural  engine, 
long  before  the  principle  was  "invented"  and  "patented"  by 
men. 

The  first  savage  who  boiled  a  root  unwittingly  used  steam- 


ENGINES.  265 

power  and  burst  boilers,  in  the  food  which  he  ate.  A  human 
mind  had  swayed  the  movements  of  matter,  and  had  set  a 
caloric  engine  to  work  when  a  man  had  purposely  kindled  a 
fire.  But  the  application  of  heat-power  is  far  older.  What- 
ever the  antiquity  of  men,  and  kettles,  and  fires  kindled  by  men 
to  boil  kettles,  may  be,  boiling  springs,  volcanoes,  the  world, 
heat,  and  light,  are  older  than  men  and  their  weak  inventions. 
The  tool-marks  of  the  old  engines  record  part  of  their  history 
on  rocks. 

In  striving  to  understand  the  records  and  the  engines,  the 
best  course  is  to  seek  after  the  powers  employed,  and  set 
them  to  work  when  found. 

If  the  minds  of  men  who  only  discovered  a  use  for  weight 
and  heat  still  sway  the  minds  of  engineers,  and  through  them 
and  their  engines  sway  the  movements  of  inanimate  matter,  a 
greater  Mind  can  at  least  do  as  much  with  the  universe  and 
the  minds  of  its  inhabitants.  Earnest  striving  to  solve  pro- 
blems in  natural  science  leads  to  this  belief.  We  can  neither 
see  all  the  face  nor  reach  the  works  of  our  own  little  world,  nor 
can  we  hope  to  understand  even  that  one  wheel  in  the  great 
engine ;  we  cannot  by  searching  find  out  its  Maker ;  but  we 
cannot  do  better  than  study  his  works.  The  more  we  see  of 
them,  the  plainer  it  must  appear  that  such  an  engine  had  a 
contriver  who  governs  it. 

In  making  geological  toys  to  imitate  parts  of  the  engine 
of  nature,  all  natural  mechanical  forces  yet  discovered  may  be 
employed  upon  all  materials  within  reach,  and  all  available 
wits  set  to  watch  results  and  turn  knowledge  to  practical  use. 

Millers  have  learned  to  use  gravitation  with  water-weights, 
in  spite  of  river-floods ;  engineers  may  learn  to  use  the  world's 
heat,  in  spite  of  volcanic  eruptions. 

It  has  been  done  in  Italy.     If  Icelanders  would  use  hot 


26C  FORCE. 

springs  which  have  worked  for  centuries,  they  might  have 
winter-gardens  and  hothouses  ;  they  might  boil  their  mutton 
for  nothing  and  sell  the  soup  ;  they  might  at  least  warm  their 
houses  and  cow-byres,  irrigate  their  hay-fields,  and  wash  in 
the  hot  water  which  runs  to  waste  at  their  doors.  If  miners 
would  but  direct  the  natural  underground  heat-power  which 
moves  air  in  deep  mines,  they  might  save  human  lives,  and 
the  cost  of  power  expended  in  ventilation.  If  we  could  learn 
to  store  up  and  use  the  heat-power  which  lifts  water  above 
ground,  and  so  works  all  rivers  and  water-mills,  there  is 
plenty  of  spare  sun-power  to  work  all  the  heat-machines  on 
the  earth.  Magnetism  has  been  pressed  and  sent  to  sea  as 
pilot ;  that  giant  may,  perhaps,  be  set  to  harder  work.  Elec- 
tricity is  errand-boy  and  link-man,  gilder  and  doctor,  and 
strong  enough  for  any  place.  Light  paints  portraits,  kindles 
fires,  and  tells  the  shape  and  composition  of  distant  worlds. 
Light,  too,  may  be  harnessed  and  set  to  work  in  time. 

Towards  useful  discoveiy  the  study  of  natural  science 
tends ;  it  can  lead  to  no  ill,  for  the  further  we  go  on  this  path 
the  nearer  we  get  to  truth.  Natural  science  is  not  taught  at 
English  schools,  and  so  much  the  worse  for  those  who  studied 
there.  Some  school  of  philosophers  taught  that  the  world 
stood  upon  the  back  of  an  elephant,  and  the  elephant  upon  a 
tortoise.  It  was  lawful  to  learn  this  much,  but  it  was  impious 
to  ask  what  the  tortoise  stood  upon :  no  one  knew  that  mys- 
tery, and  no  one  ought  to  seek  to  know  it.  Once  it  was 
impious  to  assert  that  the  earth  went  round  the  sun.  But 
now  this  reign  of  authority  has  ended.  According  to  mo- 
dern views,  unstable  ground  may  be  cut  from  under  the 
feet  of  the  tortoise,  and  the  sun  does  not  go  round  the 
world,  human  authority  notwithstanding.  We  may  now 
seek  truth  anywhere  and  everywhere  without  offence;  but 


ENGINES.  267 

English  scholars  must  seek  it  for  themselves  if  they  choose 
this  path. 

Natural  philosophy  is  now  open  to  all ;  but  hitherto  it  has 
been  little  taught.  Any  child  can  and  may  make  experiments. 
Every  successful  effort  to  find  a  cause  is  a  fresh  gain  to  all  ; 
the  search  for  truth  can  lead  to  no  ill  if  each  step  is  made 
upon  solid  facts.  All  paths  lead  two  ways,  and  study  may  lead 
to  error  ;  but  those  who  travel  the  wrong  way  ignore  facts  or 
misunderstand  them.  He  who  sets  his  cart  to  drag  his  horse, 
mistaking  effects  for  causes,  may  travel  fast ;  but  he  can  never 
rise.  All  inorganic  forms  which  have  been  accounted  for,  re- 
cord movements  ;  all  movements  which  have  been  explained, 
have  causes.  Any  attempt  to  decipher  these  records  and 
discover  movements,  forces,  and  causes,  ought  to  lead  up 
towards  the  great  First  Cause,  whose  mind  and  will  contrived 
and  made  the  natural  engine  of  the  universe.  Every  fact  and 
finger-post,  on  every  path  tried,  aims  at  this  central  truth,  as 
the  compass  aims  at  the  Pole. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  thus  far  to  rise  gradually  from 
small  engines  and  their  marks  to  larger  ones,  from  draughts 
in  a  room  to  trade  winds,  from  raindrops  and  gutters  to  ocean- 
currents  and  geological  denudation.  A  further  attempt  will 
be  made  to  show  the  use  of  working-models  in  learning  the 
unwritten  history  of  great  events  ;  of  things  which  are  too 
big  to  be  seen  by  little  men  ;  of  changes  which  occupy  longer 
time  than  human  lives.  The  deposition  of  sedimentary  strata, 
and  their  upheaval,  follow  after  the  denudation  which  made 
the  chips.  The  way  upwards  lies  downwards  at  first,  for  all 
paths  yet  tried  lead  inwards,  and  aim  at  some  underground 
central  force  hidden  there. 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

DEPOSITION  2— TIME  2 — TEMPEKATURE — LIGHT — AIR- 
WATER— WINDS — WAVES — FORM. 

TIME. — In  chap.  ix.  an  attempt  was  made  to  show  that  a  rate 
of  denudation  proves  the  ancient  date  of  a  recent  series  of 
events  in  the  geology  of  Iceland.  A  rate  of  deposition  is 
another  measure  of  past  time.  If  the  surface  of  the  world 
has  been  ground  down  and  worn  away  so  as  to  produce 
certain  sculptured  forms,  the  chips  must  be  somewhere,  and 
the  rubbish-heaps  in  proportion  to  the  work  done,  and  to  the 
time  spent  upon  it.  We  judge  of  a  carpenter  by  his  chips  ; 
and  so  we  estimate  other  work.  It  is  manifest  that  a  vast 
number  of  trees  have  been  sawn  up  at  spots  in  Scandinavia, 
because  of  the  heaps  of  sawdust  on  shore  and  below  the  mills, 
in  the  river  and  in  the  river-bed.  An  old  mine  is  known  by 
large  rubbish-heaps.  An  old  furnace  is  known  by  large  hills 
of  cinders.  Ancient  and  long-continued  human  occupation 
of  the  coast  of  Denmark,  is  proved  by  large  heaps  of  oyster- 
shells,  gnawed  bones,  and  such  contents  of  "  kitchen  middens." 
The  evidence  for  time  is  equally  good  if  the  carpenter  has 
struck  work,  or  the  saw-mill  has  stopped,  or  the  mine  is 
"  knocked,"  or  the  furnace  "  blown  out,"  or  the  men  who  ate 
the  oysters  are  eaten  by  worms. 

So  it  is  with  sedimentary  rocks.  They  are  chips  ;  and, 
from  their  thickness,  it  is  plain  that  a  great  number  of  engines, 
of  some  kind,  have  been  hewing  rocks  for  a  very  long  time, 


TIME.  269 

and  shooting  the  rubbish  into  the  sea,  to  be  carried  and 
packed.  So  deposition  may  equal  denudation,  but  cannot 
exceed  it. 

In  most  cases,  the  only  attainable  measure  of  denuda- 
tion, and  the  only  time-keeper,  for  past  time,  is  the  size 
of  these  beds  of  rubbish.  Eiver  denudation  in  Iceland 
is  older  than  Icelandic  history ;  so  is  glacial  denudation. 
The  discoverers  named  the  land,  and  the  'ice'  did  not  grow 
there  in  a  day.  A  rate  of  glacial  action  has  not  been  found, 
and  it  certainly  varies.  The  machine  is  working  full  speed 
in  Greenland  ;  it  has  struck  work  in  Britain  ;  and  it  is  work- 
ing half  speed  in  Scandinavia.  Taking  the  present  rate  in 
Iceland  as  something  like  a  medium  rate  for  many  ages, 
the  measure  of  the  work  done  is  the  quantity  of  mud  now 
carried  out  of  the  groove  in  which  ice  works. 

An  old  fisherman's  test  for  clear  water  may  be  used  when 
a  better  guage  is  wanting.  Fish  will  not  take  a  fly  in  muddy 
water,  probably  because  they  cannot  see  it  from  their  haunts 
at  the  bottom  ;  and  the  test  for  fishable  water  is  :  "  Wade 
ye  in  to  yer  knees,  and  when  ye  can  count  yer  ten  taes  she'll 
lush."  In  the  sea  off  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  shells  are 
visible  in  many  fathoms.  In  glacier-rivers  in  general,  and  in 
large  Icelandic  rivers  in  particular,  the  fisherman's  test  shows 
water  as  thick  as  the  muddiest  of  Scotch  rivers  in  the  wildest 
spate,  or  the  water  in  London  when  Faraday  dropped  his  card 
on  Father  Thames,  and  found  him  filthy.  Wade  into  the 
Hvita  up  to  the  ankles,  and  the  bare  feet  are  wholly  hidden 
from  the  eyes  by  white  mud.  Most  of  the  Icelandic  rivers  are 
like  it,  and  wont  "  fush  "  at  all.  The  Hvita  is  a  broad,  deep, 
rapid,  thick,  gray  stream,  larger  than  the  Thames,  and  all  the 
mud  is  ground  by  glaciers  from  igneous  rocks.  The  quantity 
of  mud  in  a  gallon,  and  the  number  of  gallons  which  pass  in  a 


270  FORM. 

given  time,  would  give  a  rough  measure  of  the  work  of  denu- 
dation accomplished  in  this  basin.  If  the  beds  of  sediment 
could  be  found  and  identified,  they  would  equal  the  groove 
made.  Beds  of  rock-chips  cannot  be  referred  to  the  several 
grooves  whence  they  were  taken  ;  but  chips  do  not  escape 
from  the  world  ;  and  because  all  sedimentary  rocks  are  chips, 
and  denudation  at  the  fastest  known  rate  is  slow,  all  history 
must  be  as  nothing  to  the  geological  time  which  is  measured 
by  sedimentary  rocks.  Modern  geology  deals  chiefly  with 
rubbish-heaps  of  this  kind,  with  their  transport  and  packing, 
and  with  the  order  in  which  the  layers  are  laid.  Except  in 
the  case  of  glacial  drift,  no  attempt  is  made  to  trace  stones  to 
parent  rocks  in  position  ;  but  deposition  clearly  results  from 
denudation,  from  transport  of  materials,  sorting  and  packing  ; 
and  all  these  operations  occupy  time. 


FORM  results  from  movement,  and  movement  from  Force. 
The  forms  of  sedimentary  beds  record  movements,  and  the 
forces  which  caused  them  :  and  they  are  thermometers  also, 
for  they  register  temperature. 

If  the  packing  of  a  bed  of  silt  records  water-work,  it  also 
records  some  temperature  greater  than  the  freezing-point  of 
water  at  the  earth's  surface.  Pebbles  and  grains  of  sand, 
which  retain  their  shapes  though  cemented  together,  record 
that  a  temperature  less  than  the  melting-point  of  the  stone 
has  endured  at  the  spot  ever  since  the  bed  of  silt  fell  through 
unfrozen  water.  The  maximum  limit  of  temperature  at  a 
particular  spot  is  thus  recorded  for  the  whole  of  the  time 
during  which  this  particular  form  has  lasted. 

The  Forces  which  pack  silt,  by  moving  air  and  water,  are 
the  same  which  work  denudation,  and  the  engines  and  tools 


TEMPERATURE — ENGINES — TOOL-MARKS.  271 

are  the  same.  Loose  stories  are  carried,  sorted,  and  packed 
by  rivers  and  land-ice,  by  ocean-currents  and  winds,  by 
waves,  and  by  floats  which  are  strong  enough  to  carry  such 
weights.  The  fall  of  the  sediment  is  a  result  of  gravitation, 
the  rise  of  the  water  results  from  lieat  as  it  appears. 

The  forms  are  the  tool-marks  of  these  engines,  and  by 
learning  the  marks,  ancient  work  may  be  assigned  to  the 
engine  which  did  it,  and  to  the  mechanical  force  which 
drives  the  engine. 

In  order  to  learn  the  marks,  the  engine  may  be  watched, 
or,  when  any  part  of  it  is  out  of  reach,  another  part  may  be 
watched,  and  the  lesson  so  learned  indirectly.  We  cannot 
get  to  the  surface  of  the  air,  but  we  can  watch  waves  on  the 
surface  of  water,  and  study  the  barometer  ;  we  cannot  get  to 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  but  we  can  watch  the  air-engine  at 
work  upon  snow  and  sand-drifts  on  shore,  and  study  the 
sea-beach  at  low  tide.  We  can  see  the  tools  at  work 

Waves. — When  a  fluid  is  moved  by  any  force,  the  smooth 
surface  takes  a  form  which  indicates  the  direction  of  move- 
ment :  if  solids  are  moved  by  the  moving  fluid,  they  too  are 
packed  into  corresponding  shapes,  which  may  endure  to 
record  what  happened  at  a  particular  time  and  place.  In 
order  to  recognise  work  done  by  an  old  wave,  the  thing  to 
study  is  an  existing  wave. 

Waves  on  a  stream. — A  stream  of  water,  or  of  any  other 
fluid,  while  flowing  over  an  uneven  bed,  or  in  a  narrow  chan- 
nel, curls  over  and  forms  waves.  The  water  is  dragged  down- 
wards, but  it  is  also  thrown  upwards  and  from  side  to  side  by 
reflection  from  impediments,  and  it  moves  in  curves,  which 
produce  wave-forms  above,  and  wave-marks  below. 

By  knowing  these  wave-forms  anglers  know  where  to  seek 
fish,  and  boatmen  how  to  avoid  stones.  In  deeper  water 


272  WAVES. 

similar  forms  betray  reefs  and  sandbanks  ;  on  dry  ground  silt- 
forms  record  the  passage  of  currents,  and  of  departed  waves, 
even  waves  in  the  invisible  air.  In  any  bed  of  sedimentary 
rock,  similar  forms  record  similar  movements. 

Weight. 


Fid.  92.  WAVE-FORMS  AND  WAVE-MARKS. 

We  are  driven  to  assume  that  water,  and  other  fluids,  con- 
sist of  particles,  and  that  they  jostle  and  rebound  ;  that  the 
shapes  of  waves  upon  running  streams  result  from  the  direc- 
tions in  which  force  and  resistance  act  upon  these  particles. 

When  fluid  and  solid  particles,  dry  dust,  sand,  small  shot, 
and  similar  materials,  are  poured  down  a  slope,  wave-forms 
and  movements  resemble  each  other  in  all  the  streams.  In 
sorting  dust-shot,  a  stream  is  allowed  to  escape  from  under  a 
sluice,  and  the  shot,  in  rolling  down  a  board,  moves  like  water 
in  a  "  lasher."  A  single  ball  or  a  big  stone  leaps  down-hill  in 
curves,  which  agree  with  wave-curves  on  water-streams. 
Waves  which  the  wind  drives  along  the  surface  of  stagnant 
water,  also  resemble  curves  described  by  solids.  A  ball 
played  on  a  billiard-table  bounds,  and  rebounds  ;  jostles  other 
balls,  and  moves  on  the  plane  as  waves  do  in  a  pond,  or  like 
tidal  waves  reflected  from  continents.  We  may  assume  that 
fluids  consist  of  particles  which  also  jostle  and  rebound. 

If  a  marble  is  driven  against  one  end  of  a  row  of  marbles, 
the  driving  force  and  the  motion  pass  from  ball  to  ball 
through  the  series ;  and  the  last  ball  moves  till  the  force 
which  moved  it  is  transferred  elsewhere  ;  or,  being  changed, 
disappears.  If  water  consists  of  particles,  then  water  and 


LIGHT.  273 

loose  sand  make  a  series,  and  motion  and  force  pass  through 
it  to  the  last  particle  which  records  the  movement  when  it 
stops.  Some  force — sunlight,  for  example — moves  air  ;  and 
the  wind  stirs  the  sea,  which  stirs  sand  ;  the  last  grains  of 
this  series  take  the  form  of  water-waves,  on  the  sea-beach 
and  in  deep  water.  The  sand-form  records  movement  in 
water,  air,  and  light,  if  light  be  the  force  which  started  this 
train. 

Water-waves  produce  waves  on  sand.  Waves  in  air  also 
produce  like  forms  in  dry  dust.  Waves  of  sound  are  copied 
in  dry  sand  spread  on  a  sounding-board,  and  on  water  in  a 
musical  glass.  Photography  and  photometry  record  move- 
ments in  light,  or  movements  caused  by  light,  and  philoso- 
phers have  come  to  believe  that  light  is  but  an  effect  of  sys- 
tems of  waves  moving  in  some  unknown  fluid,  as  sound- 
waves move  in  air.  Each  of  these  things — water,  air,  and  the 
fluid  whose  waves  are  light — is  capable  of  moving  other  things. 

The  moving  force  which  moved  the  first  particles  in  the 
series,  of  which  the  last  retains  the  recording  form,  is  the  force 
which  did  this  work  ;  if  light  moves  the  air,  light  makes  the 
ripple-mark  on  the  beach.  Are  we  to  stop  there  ? 

In  the  row  of  marbles  a  hand  and  a  human  will  were  in 
the  series,  and  the  will  moved  the  last  marble.  In  silt-beds 
and  old  stratified  rocks,  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  may 
seem  endless  ;  but  the  ultimate  cause  of  the  ripple-mark  must 
be  will  also,  unless  there  is  movement  without  a  cause 
somewhere  short  of  the  will.  Unless  there  is  a  will  at  the 
end  of  the  train  of  machinery,  sand,  or  the  sea,  or  the  wind, 
or  the  light  of  the  sun,  or  some  other  inanimate  thing,  moves 
without  a  cause  ;  which  is  contrary  to  experience,  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  assumed  in  any  train  of  reasoning.  We  never 
find  marbles  and  billiard-balls,  shot  and  shell,  moving  with- 

VOL.   II.  T 


274  NATURAL  SCIENCE. 

out  a  cause,  and  most  of  their  movements  can  be  traced  back 
to  human  will  :  why  should  larger  or  smaller  particles, 
worlds,  or  atoms,  move  without  a  cause,  more  than  these  ? 

Forms  which  result  from  denudation  and  from  deposition 
are  as  figures,  on  a  dial-plate  which  record  movements  ;  from 
them  the  moving  force  may  be  sought  through  the  works  : 
the  further  men  can  reach  the  better,  if  they  pause  to  think 
of  Him  who  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  feel  that  they  are 
looking  at  the  works  of  their  Maker,  when  they  study  natural 
science,  and  the  tool-marks  of  His  engines. 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

DEPOSITION  3 — WINDS  2 — WAVES  2 — WAVE-MARKS. 

BECAUSE  the  works  of  nature  are  too  large  for  human  inspec- 
tion, working-models  of  them  help  comprehension.  Imme- 
diate causes  are  learned  by  watching  the  rapid  growth  of 
form.  The  wind  is  invisible,  but  smoke  and  waves  are  not ; 
and  through  their  visible  forms  and  movements,  invisible 
movements  and  forms  may  be  seen. 

When  wind  blows  along  the  calm  surface  of  still  water  it 
does  not  move  in  straight  lines,  horizontally  ;  it  strikes  down- 
wards, and  rolls  along,  driving  the  water-surface  before  it. 
On  a  windy  day,  where  a  mountaineer  has  fired  a  moor,  the 
white  stream  of  smoke  flying  over  the  brown  heath  rolls  as  it 
flies.  It  rolls,  and  breaks,  and  surges  over  the  plain,  as  the 
wind  does.  It  flows  down  hill  into  a  valley,  and  rolls  up  the 
opposite  slope ;  and  where  the  smoke  strikes  visibly,  the 
brown  heath  bends  before  the  invisible  wind.  When  some 
farmer  is  burning  weeds  near  a  hay-field,  the  waves  on  the 
sea  of  green  fit  into  the  curves  of  the  smoke-cloud,  and  the 
smoke  betrays  the  immediate  cause  of  the  movement,  though 
it  is  invisible.  Air  does  not  flow  in  flat  sheets  or  straight 
streams,  but  rolls  as  water  does  in  a  river.  Because  the  river 
rolls,  sand  is  packed  into  the  shapes  of  waves,  on  water,  heath, 
and  grass,  which  are  driven  by  rolling  streams  of  air. 

When  a  breeze  begins  to  stir  the  glassy  surface  of  a  lake, 
floats  move  slowly  along,  while  tiny  waves  and  floats  rise  and 


2  ( 0  DEPOSITION. 

fall,  advance  and  slide  back,  as  they  are  pushed  by  the  wind, 
and  pulled  down  by  weight.  The  surface  "ripples,"  and 
moves  as  far  as  the  force  can  drive  it.  The  far  end  of  a 
canal  grows  deeper  when  the  wind  blows  along  it.  Large 
lakes  rise  to  leeward  ;  high  tides  coincide  with  strong  gales 
at  sea.  Water  is  driven  by  the  wind,  and  the  shape  of  a 
wave  suggests  that  it  is  moving  water  driven  up  over  water 
at  rest,  and  falling  back  when  the  force  has  done  all  it  can  to 
push  it  over  and  make  a  breaker  of  a  roller. 

The  force  which  moved  the  air  is  transferred  to  the  water, 
and  from  particle  to  particle  ;  and  thus  a  "  curl  on  the  water" 
grows  ;  bigger  waves  grow,  and  some  large  ones  even  move 
faster  than  the  wind,  and  so  foretell  approaching  storms. 

The  force  which  is  thus  transmitted  is  also  reflected,  bent 
aside,  accumulated,  dispersed,  accelerated,  and  retarded.  So 
the  forms  of  waves,  and  their  movements,  are  complicated 
and  hard  to  comprehend. 

Horizontal  movements. — Waves,  moving  upon  the  surface, 
are  not  straight  continuous  ridges,  crossing  the  path  of  the 
wind  ;  but  short  curved  ridges,  moving  and  spreading  in 
many  directions.  Waves  on  any  puddle  are  like  sea-waves 
in  this  respect. 

Barnespool  at  Eton  is  a  sheltered  pool,  walled  round,  and 
spanned  by  a  bridge.  When  the  wind  blows  strongly  from 
the  west,  curved  systems  of  small  waves  are  driven  in  under 
the  bridge  ;  they  strike  against  the  walls,  and  curl  round  the 
piers,  and  they  rebound  from  side  to  side.  The  force  which 
moves  the  wind  is  transferred  to  water,  transmitted  through 
a  series  of  water-particles,  bent  aside  in  passing  the  pier, 
reflected  from  the  walls,  and  finally  recorded  upon  a  mina- 
ture  beach.  These  small  systems  are  very  complicated,  and 
as  hard  to  comprehend  as  larger  wave-systems,  but  they  are 


WAVES — WAVE-MARKS.  277 

better  seen,  because  the  whole  pool  can  be  seen  at  once.  The 
waves  can  be  watched  from  the  bridge,  bending,  crossing,  and 
re-crossing ;  meeting,  passing,  rebounding  from  the  walls,  and 
gradually  fading  away  into  a  calm  at  the  sheltered  end  of  the 
stagnant  pool.  Barnespool  was  the  sole  teacher  of  this  science 
at  Eton. 

It  is  easy  to  draw  and  map  out  these  wave-systems,  and 
to  apply  the  knowledge  to  larger  systems  of  waves.  It  is 
easy  to  see  how  invisible  particles  of  water  move,  by  watch- 
ing the  movements  of  solid  floats.  There  is  no  general  move- 
ment in  the  water,  but  there  is  a  slow  drift  on  the  surface. 
Apples,  orange-peel,  bits  of  ice,  and  other  things  which  float 
deep,  advance  slowly  towards  the  calm,  but  they  do  not  move 
steadily,  or  in  straight  paths.  They  move  as  the  water  does, 
up  and  down,  forwards  and  backwards,  describing  curved 
paths,  like  waltzers  or  tumblers,  who  whirl  and  roll  while  they 
advance.  The  whole  of  these  movements  clearly  result  from 
the  force  which  moved  the  wind,  and  that  is  sunlight,  according 
to  modern  science.  The  beach  at  the  end  is  the  tool-mark  of 
the  engine  driven  by  some  mechanical  force.  It  is  a  photo- 
graph. 

What  is  true  of  this  puddle  is  true  of  larger  ponds. 

Tlie  Serpentine,  in  London,  is  a  larger  sheet  of  water 
spanned  by  a  larger  bridge,  imder  which  waves  pass.  Waves 
at  the  far  end  cannot  be  seen  from  the  bridge,  but  they  can 
be  followed  and  watched.  The  systems  move  fastest  in  the 
middle  ;  they  are  retarded  by  the  sides,  and  so  form  loops,  as 
they  do  under  every  arch.  At  the  end,  the  loops  beat  upon 
a  concave  dam,  and  the  waves  are  reflected  ;  they  return  and 
meet  at  a  focus,  where  the  force  which  drove  them  is  accumu- 
lated. The  waves  leap  highest  in  the  focus  of  the  wall,  and 
there  they  disperse,  and  set  off  again,  moving  back  against 


278  DEPOSITION. 

the  wind  which  drove  them  forward.  At  the  sides  of  the 
canal,  two  systems  of  breakers  cross  each  other  diagonally. 
One  is  the  side  of  the  loop  which  is  moving  forwards,  the 
other  is  the  side  of  the  reflected  loop  which  is  moving  back- 
wards. Orange-peel  and  water-logged  apples  leap  and  rock 
to  and  fro,  advance  arid  retire,  as  water-particles  must  do  ; 
and  ducks  in  search  of  food  paddle  about  under  the  wall, 
and  use  their  experience  of  reflected  force  to  avoid  shipwreck. 
Force,  from  which  all  these  complicated  movements  result, 
is  still  the  same  ;  and  the  shape  of  the  gravel  beach,  and  piles 
of  drifted  rubbish  upon  it,  record  the  movement  and  the  force. 

The  same  thing  is  to  be  seen  wherever  there  is  a  beach. 

At  Weymoutli,  the  waves  of  a  large  bay  dash  against  a 
concave  sea-wall,  and  rebound.  Systems  of  large  size  may 
be  seen  advancing  from  the  horizon,  and  retreating  from  the 
wall ;  crossing  and  recrossing,  and  meeting  in  the  focus,  as 
truly  as  invisible  waves  of  sound  and  light  meet  in  the  focus 
of  a  reflector.  The  waves  driven  by  an  accumulation  of 
force  leap  up  to  form  cones  and  pyramids,  and  jets  of  spray ; 
and  the  sea  boils. 

From  the  top  of  Portland  Island,  which  makes  one  horn 
of  this  bay,  still  larger  Atlantic  waves  are  seen  moving 
rapidly  up  channel.  They  are  retarded  by  the  ebb,  are  accele- 
rated by  the  flood  ;  they  are  turned  aside  in  passing  the  Bill 
of  Portland,  curl  round  into  the  shelter,  and  roll  into  the 
bay.  They  are  reflected  from  the  beach;  the  force  is  accumu- 
lated in  the  focus,  dispersed  beyond  it ;  ships  at  anchor  and 
water-logged  buoys  rock  in  the  sea  ;  and  one  side  of  the  Chesil 
Bank  records  these  movements,  and  the  amount  of  deflected 
force  expended  in  building  this  beach  behind  Portland. 

The  whole  is  but  an  enlarged  edition  of  Barnespool,  more 
difficult  to  see  and  harder  to  comprehend,  because  larger.  A 


WAVES — WAVE-MAKKS. 


279 


whole  system  is  seen  from  the  bridge  at  Eton  ;  ten  minutes 
will  carry  an  observer  from  one  end  of  the  Serpentine  to  the 
other ;  but  from  Weymouth  to  the  Bill  of  Portland  is  a  day's 
march,  and  the  wide  Atlantic  is  beyond. 

On  Isle  de  Rlie,  near  Kochelle,  on  the  coast  of  France, 
stands  a  tall  lighthouse,  called  Tour  de  Balene.  It  stands 
upon  a  sandy  point,  with  well-marked  sea-beaches.  Outside 
the  point  is  a  long  flat  shoal,  at  the  end  of  which  stands  a 


FIG.  93.  CROSS-ROLLERS  AT  ISLE  DE  RHE,  NEAR  ROCHELLE. 
From  a  sketch  made  from  the  Tour  de  Balene. 

second  lighthouse  on  a  rock  which  is  covered  at  high  tide. 
Big  waves  rolling  in  from  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and  the  Atlantic 
hit  upon  the  end  of  this  shoal.  They  are  most  retarded  where 
the  water  is  shallowest ;  and  so  the  long  curved  ridges  become 
loops,  bend  and  curl  inwards.  They  do  no  more  than  smaller 
waves  do  on  points  in  Barnespool ;  but  from  their  greater 
size  these  cross-rollers  are  very  remarkable,  and  do  very  re- 


280  DEPOSITION, 

markable  work.  One  moving  system  thus  Lent  on  a  shoal 
beyond  the  limits  of  vision  appears  to  be  two  systems  moving 
diagonally  upon  opposite  sides  of  the  shoal,  the  point,  and 
the  lighthouse  upon  it.  The  long  rollers  break  and  form  a 
moving  network,  whose  knots  are  tall  crested  "  white  horses" 
advancing  directly  upon  the  end  of  the  spit ;  while  the 
meshes  are  green  rollers,  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles, 
and  breaking  heavily  on  opposite  sides  of  the  point. 

The  bent  sea-waves  converge  and  meet  at  their  focus 
below  the  lighthouse,  as  rays  of  refracted  sunlight  converge 
and  inlet  in  the  focus  of  the  lens  above.  The  form  of  the 
sand-spit  records  this  movement,  as  the  Chesil  Bank,  and 
miniature  banks  in  the  Serpentine  and  in  Barnespool, 
record  the  movements  of  smaller  waves  there.  But  in  this 
case  the  pool  is  too  large  to  be  seen,  and  harder  to  under- 
stand for  that  reason. 

Tides  are  but  larger  waves  harder  to  comprehend,  and 
driven  by  a  different  variety  of  force.  If  ordinary  sea-waves 
result  from  the  radiating  force  which  moves  the  winds,  these 
appear  to  result  from  the  converging  force  of  gravitation, 
which  drags  water  towards  centres,  outside  of  the  circles  which 
bound  the  sea.  Tide-waves  rise  under  the  sun  and  moon,  and 
follow  them  westward  ;  but  they  too  rebound,  and  their  vast 
and  complicated  movements  have  not  been  fully  unravelled. 

Where  tides  have  been  mapped  and  so  brought  within 
reach  of  human  vision,  the  movements  of  tidal  waves  appear 
to  agree  with  those  of  common  waves,  which  are  impeded  in 
wandering  over  the  surface  of  smaller  pools. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  study  uncontrollable  tides  or  Atlantic 
waves  ;  a  knowledge  of  this  part  of  the  engine  may  be  fished 
out  of  every  puddle.  The  advance  of  the  tidal  wave  in  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  where  the  rise  is  from  40  to  75  feet,  though  it 


WAVES — WAVE-MARKS.  281 

is  one  of  the  grandest  sights  in  nature,  is  but  a  large  copy  of 
the  flux  and  reflux  of  broken  waves  in  any  creek,  or  on  any 
sandy  beach. 

When  something  of  the  movement  of  waves  has  been 
learned,  marks  made  by  waves  on  sand  and  gravel  beaches 
are  comprehensible  ;  and  similar  marks,  wherever  found,  can 
be  referred  to  their  immediate  cause,  and  their  meaning  so  far 
interpreted.  Till  the  movements  of  waves  are  studied,  their 
marks  mean  nothing,  because  their  language  is  a  foreign  speech. 

At  p.  340,  vol.  1,  a  lesson  taught  by  the  ebb-tideis  set 
down  as  it  was  learned  on  a  Highland  strand  ;  it  is  good  for 
all  strands,  new  and  old,  if  only  they  retain  the  tool-marks  of 
Deposition  by  waves. 

Old  ripple-marks  on  the  millstone  grits  of  Yorkshire,  in 
quarries  near  Pately  Bridge,  are  still  as  perfect  as  they  are  on 
a  strand  from  which  the  ebb  has  just  retired.  When  a  new 
surface  in  the  quarry  is  laid  bare,  ripple-marks  are  the  same 
in  shape,  size,  colour,  and  material,  as  ripple-marks  in  the  sea. 
Tracks  of  creatures  which  wriggled,  and  crawled,  and  hopped, 
and  walkew  about  on  the  wet  sand  ages  ago,  are  as  fresh  upon 
the  stone  as  similar  tracks  made  within  the  hour.  It  was 
recorded  upon  one  slab  that  water  had  moved  first  towards 
the  north-east,  and  then  towards  the  south-east,  or  that  two 
systems  of  waves  had  crossed.  The  surface  so  marked  by 
moving  water  was  left  dry,  marked  by  moving  creatures,  and 
dimpled  by  falling  drops  of  rain  or  by  rising  bubbles  of  some 
gas.  This  surface  now  is  solid  rock  ;  thousands  like  it  lie 
over  it  and  under  it,  like  pages  in  a  book  ;  many  thick  beds 
of  sandstone  are  piled  like  volumes  stacked  in  the  corner  of  a 
room.  The  system  stands  low  in  the  series  of  geological 
records,  but  far  above  the  floor.  The  beds  in  these  quarries 
have  been  shattered,  broken,  distorted,  disturbed,  upheaved, 


282  DEPOSITION. 

crumpled  ;  big  angular  rents,  fissures,  and  fractures,  are  there 
as  plainly  seen  as  fractures  made  with  gunpowder  and  sledge- 
hammers. Some  of  the  rifts  have  been  filled,  and  in  some  of 
these  are  valuable  metals,  which  are  worked.  Since  the  veins 
were  formed,  the  sides  of  the  crack  have  moved,  for  there  are 
slickensides  in  the  veins  ;  they  have  moved  in  various  direc- 
tions, for  marks  on  the  smooth  surface  cross  each  other  where 
they  have  rubbed.  Since  all  these  movements  took  place, 
the  broken  edges  of  the  broken  beds  have  been  ground  away 
and  rounded  off — "  denuded"  into  the  shape  of  the  Yorkshire 
hills  and  dales. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  and  many  other  changes,  and  of 
all  the  time  which  has  elapsed,  the  tool-mark  of  a  tiny  water- 
wave,  and  the  spoor  of  living  creatures,  record  certain  facts  in 
language  too  plain  to  be  gainsaid  or  misunderstood. 

Low  down  in  the  geological  pile  of  stone  books,  on  a  spot 
iii  a  crumpled  torn  page  of  millstone  grit,  it  is  recorded  that 
long  ago  there  was  deposit  and  packing  of  silt  in  fluid  water, 
which  moved  as  water  now  moves  on  the  nearest  sandbank  in 
the  Humber ;  that  plants  grew,  that  living  creatures  crawled, 
and  that  rain  fell  from  the  air.  There  is  no  human  standard 
measure  for  such  denudation  and  deposition,  or  for  such  time 
as  this  ;  but  the  form  registers  the  working  of  the  old  engine, 
which  still  works. 

Tlu  climate  of  Yorkshire  is  also  recorded  within  certain 
limits.  The  water  was  not  frozen  ;  it  was  not  steam,  nor  was 
it  too  hot  for  animal  and  vegetable  life.  The  coal  vegetation 
which  succeeded  resembles  tropical  vegetation  of  the  present 
day.  It  is  probable  that  the  climate  was  warm.  Sometimes 
an  inorganic  shape  is  laid  bare  in  the  Yorkshire  quarries, 
which  has  no  counterpart  on  cold  misty  northern  shores,  and 
these  shapes  tell  their  story  more  certainly  than  fossils.  It 


WAVES — WAVE-MARKS.  283 

is  only  probable  that  a  plant  like  a  palm-tree  had  a  similar 
nature ;  it  is  not  certain.  It  was  probable  that  an  extinct 
elephant  lived  where  the  climate  was  hot ;  but  it  has  been 
proved  by  the  discovery  of  woolly  hair  beside  mammoth's 
bones,  and  on  the  skin  of  a  mammoth,  which  fell  out  of 
frozen  ground  about  Behring's  Straits,  that  the  fossil  elephants 
which  lived  about  the  "glacial  period"  were  provided  with 
natural  coverings  to  resist  the  cold  which  prevailed  in  Eng- 
land when  English  mammoths  lived. 

The  trees  of  the  coal-formation  may  have  flourished  in 
colder  climates,  though  they  are  like  the  tropical  vegetation 
which  now  feeds  elephants.  No  experiment  can  test  con- 
clusions drawn  from  the  shape  of  a  fossil  shell,  and  from  the 
habits  of  living  things  ;  but  inorganic  forms  record  facts  which 
seem  never  to  vary.  Frozen  mud,  mud  packed  by  waves,  and 
sun-baked  mud  of  the  present  day,  must,  so  far  as  we  know, 
be  like  mud  baked,  washed,  or  frozen,  at  the  time  when  the 
first  bed  of  silt  was  formed. 

Beside,  and  mingled  with  ripple-marks,  certain  inorganic 
forms  are  occasionally  laid  bare  in  quarries  near  Pately  Bridge, 
which  seem  to  mean  baking  rather  than  freezing :  a  warm 
climate  in  the  place  where  millstone  grits  are  found.  One 
seemed  to  be  a  form  moulded  in  sand,  partly  by  air.  Dry- 
looking  white  sand,  apparently  blown  by  the  wind,  is  scarcely 
bound  together,  and  rests  loosely  where  it  fell  upon  a  strange, 
brown,  rounded  form,  whose  section  shows  minute  bedding. 
It  seems  as  if  a  bank  of  sand  and  mud  beside  a  runlet  had 
been  well  baked  till  it  cracked,  that  the  edges  were  rounded 
off  by  tides  or  floods  till  a  definite  form,  a  tool-mark  of 
deposition  and  denudation,  was  moulded  in  sand.  Then 
came  a  sheet  of  brown  mud  or  a  green  coat  of  vegetation, 
now  reduced  to  a  colour,  and  over  this  the  dry  white  sand 


284  DEPOSITION. 

appears  to  have  drifted.  Then  came  a  deluge  of  clean  gray 
sand,  which  buried  the  whole,  hid  it  and  preserved  it  till  it 
was  quarried  by  Yorlcshirernen  in  search  of  paving-stones. 
The  whole  document  must  be  read  together  before  the  record 
is  understood. 

Eipple-marks  are  familiar  to  geologists,  but  other  in- 
organic fossil  forms  have  not  been  much  noticed,  though  they 
are  equally  worthy  of  attention  as  records.  Ripple-marks 
abound  in  sedimentary  rocks  of  all  ages.  In  the  old  rocks  of 
Orkney  are  ripple-marked  slates.  In  the  oldest  of  Welsh 
slates,  where  no  trace  of  life  has  yet  been  found,  ripples  are 
perfect.  In  these  old,  unaltered,  sedimentary  beds,  which 
have  been  tilted,  shattered,  baked,  and  crumpled,  the  hard 
blue  surface  of  a  flag  when  newly  bared  is  often  rippled  as 
plainly  as  the  nearest  mud-bank.  But  in  older  Canadian 
beds  which  have  been  more  altered,  even  these  marks  are 
obliterated. 

Where  the  form  exists  it  tells  its  own  tale  ;  it  tells  that 
the  fusing  point  of  the  rock  lias  not  been  reached  at  the  place 
since  the  mark  was  made ;  that  the  freezing  point  of  the 
fluid  which  packed  the  sand  or  mud  was  not  reached  when 
the  waves  moved.  But  when  the  form  has  been  obliterated 
at  one  part  of  an  altered  bed,  though  preserved  elsewhere,  it 
proves  that  some  other  force  has  been  at  work  since  the  sedi- 
ment was  packed  by  waves. 

The  alphabet  of  form  is  to  be  learned  from  engines  work- 
ing on  the  surface  of  the  globe  ;  but  inscriptions  to  be  read 
are  stored  below,  and  some  of  them  are  harder  to  read  than 
ripple-marks,  because  they  were  written  underground. 


CHAPTEE    XLVIII. 

DEPOSITION  4 — WINDS  3 — WAVES  3 — BEACHES. 

THE  most  characteristic  wave-mark  is  a  beach.  It  is  a  form 
like  that  of  waves  which  beat  upon  it,  one  which  can  only  be 
understood  by  watching  waves.  A  more  beautiful  thing  than 
a  big  wave  is  not  to  be  found  in  nature.  Many  a  pleasant 
dreamy  hour  has  the  writer  of  these  pages  spent  in  watching 
Atlantic  rollers  sweeping  on  from  the  blue  distance  to  thun- 
der in  against  the  Scottish  coast.  A  green  glassy  ridge  comes 
rapidly  on,  glittering  in  the  sunlight ;  heaving,  growing,  swell- 
ing, and  mounting  up,  as  it  comes  nearer  and  nearer ;  growing 
steeper  and  steeper  as  it  reaches  shallower  water.  The  top 
is  ever  pushing  on  over  the  base  ;  the  base  is  constantly  held 
by  the  sea-bottorn,  and  pushed  back  by  the  undertow.  The 
steep  ridge  of  water  becomes  a  wall,  and  the  wall  a  hollow 
curve  like  a  sea-shell,  and  then  the  moving  hill  rolls  over 
its  base,  and  tons  of  water  fall  headlong  down  with  a  crash. 
The  broken  water  rushes  on  like  a  rising  tide  of  white  foam, 
and  leaps  up  in  sparkling  fountains  of  spray,  and  the  flood 
drives  all  that  will  move  up  hill  till  the  force  is  spent.  The 
falling  tide  of  the  undertow  rushes  back  with  the  force  of  a 
mountain-torrent  as  broad  as  the  shore  is  long.  Every  stone 
is  moved  ;  the  beach  is  constantly  worn  by  waterfalls  equal  to 
the  height  and  weight  of  the  wave,  and  by  torrents  equal  to 
the  depth  and  breadth  of  the  undertow.  Between  high  and 
low  water  mark  the  beach  takes  the  form  of  a  solid  wave,  be- 


28G 


DEPOSITION. 


cause  pebbles  are  packed  by  water-particles  which  transfer  the 
force  which  moved  them  to  sand  and  stones.  The  beach 
driven  by  water  has  a  curve  like  the  back  of  a  wave  driven 
by  the  wind,  and  each  ridge  of  loose  stone  leans  against  a 
rock,  or  rests  on  the  back  of  the  ridge  before  it.  The  woodcut  is 
from  a  portrait  of  a  heavy  rolling  Cornish  wave  which  came 
from  the  west,  curled  round  the  Land's  End,  and  was  returning 


westwards,  rushing  furiously  to  land  against  a  strong  wind,  in 
a  narrow  bay  with  a  sandy  bottom  and  a  pebbly  beach.  The 
curling  head  was  hurrying  over  the  base  to  reach  the  English 
shore,  and  a  silver  plume  of  spray  streamed  back  like  a  mer- 
maid's hair,  or  a  horseman's  crest. 

On  the  far  side  of  the  creek  the  retarded  wave  was  seen 
lagging  and  breaking  before  its  time  on  a  pile  of  loose  angular 
stones,  the  broken  chips  of  a  fallen  cliff ;  and  these,  as  the 


WAVES — BEACHES.  287 

water  burst  amongst  them,  and  roared  over  them,  stirred  and 
rolled,  and  rattled  and  groaned,  and  ground  themselves  to 
powder.  When  the  larger  tidal  wave  ebbed,  and  these 
Atlantic  waves  were  driven  back,  a  dry  beach  remained.  It 
was  the  track  of  the  invader  who  will  some  day  sweep  Eng- 
land from  the  face  of  the  earth,  unless  some  underground  ally 
lifts  her  cliffs  out  of  reach  of  the  sea. 

This  beach  was  a  steep  bank  of  boulders  and  pebbles,  with 
a  broad  slope  of  gravel  and  fine  sand  at  the  base.  The 
larger  stones  were  below,  driven  as  far  as  the  wave  could 

O 

drive  them  ;  smaller  stones  were  above,  tossed  up  by  the  recoil 
of  the  blow  ;  the  gravel  was  at  the  top  of  the  slope,  dragged 
there  by  the  undertow  ;  the  sand  was  lowest  and  furthest  out, 
where  the  force  of  the  downward  stream  was  nearly  spent,  or 
balanced  by  the  advancing  wave  ;  ripple-marks,  stream-marks, 
and  the  rest  of  the  smaller  tool-marks  of  deposition  by  waves, 
were  on  the  sand. 

A  solid  wave  of  sorted  stones  rested  upon  the  rock  where 
it  broke,  and  the  shape  of  it  was  like  that  of  the  wave  which 
was  driven  by  some  invisible  force.  The  force  which  shaped 
the  beach  was  that  which  moved  air  and  water,  and  the  in- 
visible wave  of  force  may  be  like  the  fluid  wave  and  the  beach. 

One  result  of  this  action  is  the  formation  of  new  land. 
The  sea  builds  dams,  and  rain-water  fills  up  the  space  behind 
them  with  silt.  Behind  the  Chesil  Beach,  near  Portland,  a 
lake  is  formed,  and  rivers  are  filling  it  with  mud.  Near  the 
Start  Point  is  a  similar  lake  divided  from  the  sea  by  a  broad 
wave  of  boulders.  The  lake  is  below  an  ancient  sea-cliff,  and 
is  rapidly  filling  with  mud  and  reeds  ;  it  is  full  of  fresh-water 
fish.  At  Borth  and  Traeth  Mawr  in  Wales,  are  similar  beaches. 
At  the  head  of  BreidfjorS  in  Iceland  are  larger  beaches  of 
lava  boulders,  behind  which  are  pools  of  sea-water,  and  fresh- 


288 


DEPOSITION. 


water  ponds  ;  and  rivers  still  flow  through  openings  in  this 
lava-dam  raised  by  the  sea  at  the  far  end  of  a  bay. 

Near  Snsefell  is  the. most  remarkable  beach  of  all.  It  is 
a  great  black  natural  mound  running  across  a  valley,  so  as  to 
dam  back  the  drainage  waters,  and  hold  in  the  ebbing  tide. 
The  crest  of  the  ridge  is  composed  of  smooth  egg-shaped  blocks, 
larger  than  a  man's  head,  tossed  about  in  the  wildest  confu- 
sion at  the  top,  and  more  neatly  packed  at  the  base.  The 


The  pas. 


FIG.  95.  BOLANDS  HOFVDI.    August  16,  1862. 

A  cliff  of  columnar  lava,  interstratified  with  ashes,  and  resting  on  coarse  hard  breccia  of 
rolled  pebbles.  The  talus  beneath  the  cliff  is  chiefly  sand  ;  it  makes  an  angle  of  32° 
with  the  horizon,  and  is  the  only  pass  along  this  shore. 

seaward  slope  lower  down  is  fine  black  sand,  strewed  with 
brilliant  shells,  like  those  which  are  found  in  boulder-clay. 
The  back  of  the  mound  has  a  different  steeper  curve  and  slope. 
The  whole  is  as  near  the  shape  of  breaking  rollers  which  fall 
upon  it  as  the  materials  of  which  it  is  composed  will  admit. 

Small   stones   have  been  thrown   over  the  mound  like 
spray,  and  rest  where  they  fell.     It  is  a  solid  roller,  which 


WAVES — BEACHES.  289 

has  not  reached  the  shore.  The  shore  of  the  inland  lake  is 
strewed  with  pumice,  and  suchlike  volcanic  materials,  and 
is  haunted  by  flocks  of  birds.  The  whole  structure  rests  upon 
a  foundation  of  igneous  rock,  and  is  the  work  of  fire  arranged 
by  water.  If  this  beach  were  found  anywhere  ; — in  a  quarry, 
or  on  a  hill-side,  it  would  tell  of  waves  as  large  as  those  which 
fall  upon  it  :  ocean-waves,  which  may  roll  without  a  break 
from  the  South  Pole  to  the  beach  at  Snsefell. 

The  district  of  Myra  Syssla  in  Iceland  seems  to  be  land 
formed  in  this  way.  Beneath  high  broken  precipices,  which 
look  like  sea-cliffs,  a  wide  tract  of  boggy  flat  land  slopes  to- 
wards the  sea.  It  is  traversed  by  ridges  of  gravel,  which 
have  the  form  of  dilapidated  beaches,  and  between  these  the 
whole  country  is  a  quaking  bog,  through  which  occasional 
rocks  appear.  But  these  old  beaches  are  far  higher  above  the 
sea  than  modern  beaches,  and  they  are  not  horizontal.  They 
prove  that  the  whole  land  has  risen  unevenly.  They  mark  a 
late  change  ;  and  if  similar  changes  took  place  in  early  times, 
they  too  should  be  recorded  somewhere  amongst  the  old  beds. 

At  Malar  in  the  north,  at  the  end  of  a  deep  fjord,  where 
big  rollers  cannot  now  come,  are  similiar  raised  beaches,  with 
small  moors  and  bogs  resting  in  hollows  amongst  the  boulders. 
In  Scandinavia  are  many  similar  marks  ;  and  they  are  found 
high  up  on  the  Himalayas. 

At  the  head  of  the  large  Newfoundland  bays,  which  face 
the  Atlantic — Conception,  Trinity,  Bonavista,  etc. — beaches  of 
this  pattern  form  ramparts  along  the  whole  shore.  Some  are 
bars  under  water,  others  run  from  point  to  point  like  moles 
or  breakwaters  ;  fishing  craft  anchor  behind  them,  rivers  form 
brackish  pools  on  the  land  side,  and  silt-beds  gather  in  the 
still  pools.  Icebergs  drift  about  in  deeper  water  outside,  and 
there  drop  stones  earned  from  Greenland.  Higher  iip  are 

u 


290  DEPOSITION. 

terraces  of  larger  glaciated  Newfoundland  and  foreign  stones, 
confusedly  mixed  with  sand,  rolled  pebbles,  and  beach-stones. 
These  in  their  turn  rest  upon  glaciated  rocks,  which  have 
risen,  and  are  still  rising.  In  winter,  bay-ice  packs  old  chips 
along  the  shore.  In  spring,  rivers  dig  materials  from  old 
terraces  to  build  new  deltas  behind  new  sea-beaches.  The 
bays  are  like  Myra  Syssla,  the  Miry  Shire  of  Iceland,  but  in 
Newfoundland  the  sea-bottom  has  not  emerged,  though  it  is 
rising ;  and  the  low  ridges  are  now  parallel  to  the  sea. 

Surely  these  beaches  may  help  to  explain  the  osar  and 
kames  of  the  glacial  period. 

In  North  America  raised  beaches  abound.  They  were 
first  described  by  Hitchcock,  and  they  are  conspicuous  on  the 
White  Mountains,  Green  Mountains,  and  elsewhere,  at  great 
elevations.  They  appear  to  be  sea-beaches,  formed  like  those 
now  forming  in  the  bays  of  Newfoundland,  and  ebbed  dry  in 
glens  which  were  bays  in  the  glacial  period.  Those  which 
were  most  exposed  (the  highest)  are,  like  the  beach  at  Snaefell 
in  Iceland — confused  stone-heaps  tossed  about  and  irregular  in 
shape.  Those  which  were  sheltered  by  rising  points  are  like 
those  now  forming  in  the  bays  of  Newfoundland.  At  the 
head  of  one  glen,  at  Gorham  in  the  White  Mountains,  a 
laminated  terrace  of  fine  sand  and  mud,  disposed  horizontally, 
appears  to  be  a  delta  formed  in  still  water  at  the  end  of  a 
bay.  The  formation  is  about  fifty  feet  thick,  and  from  its 
position  may  be  a  fresh-water  deposit  formed  in  a  lake  which 
burst  outwards  through  a  distant  terrace,  and  left  the  glen 
for  the  railway  to  occupy.  Upon  this  delta,  if  such  it  proves 
to  be,  large  glaciated  boulders  are  piled. 

The  translation  of  the  whole  record  made  on  the  spot  in 
1864  is,  that  ocean-currents,  icebergs,  and  bay-ice,  drifted 
along  the  course  now  followed  by  the  Grand  Trunk  Eailway, 


WAVES — BEACHES.  291 

and  dropped  foreign  boulders  in  still  bays  and  straits,  which 
are  now  glens  and  passes  amongst  the  highest  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  The  American  author  who  followed  Chambers 
thought  he  saw  raised  beaches  in  Wales  ;  and  sea-shells  have 
been  found  there  at  3000  feet.  He  also  thought  that  he  saw 
the  spoor  of  the  sea  in  Switzerland  at  similar  heights.  Till 
sea-shells  are  found  there,  and  in  the  White  Mountains,  there 
is  room  for  argument ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  these  so- 
called  raised  sea-beaches  are  marks  of  waves  in  water,  in 
air,  and,  it  may  be,  in  light. 

A  ripple-mark  is  then  a  copy  of  a  ripple ;  a  beach  copies  a 
larger  wave,  and  both  are  marks  of  deposition,  and  tool-marks. 

This  mark  is  a  thermometer  like  the  rest,  and  it  is  also  a 
water-gauge. 

The  beach  is  formed  at  the  water-margin.  If  land  rises, 
or  water  sinks,  the  beach  is  left  high  and  dry.  If  land  rises 
"straight  away"  from  the  earth's  centre,  if  one  spoke  of  the 
wheel  grows  longer,  the  old  beach-mark  is  level  there.  It  is 
like  a  storm-beach ;  a  higher  mark  parallel  to  the  lower 
beach,  and  to  the  sea ;  a  curve  on  a  higher  sphere,  further 
from  the  centre.  If  land  rises  unequally ;  if  it  bends  upwards 
like  a  bubble,  or  tilts  up  like  the  lid  of  a  box,  the  beach- 
mark  records  that  change  ;  for  it  was  made  horizontal. 

If  the  whole  sea  has  sunk  down ;  if  the  sea-level  is  nearer 
to  the  earth's  centre  and  the  land  where  it  was,  the  old  beach- 
mark  must  record  that  fact  also  :  it  must  be  found  at  the 
same  level  in  all  parts  of  the  world  if  the  whole  sea-level 
went  down  at  once. 

If  the  land  has  risen  at  one  place  and  sunk  at  another  ; 
if  it  has  grown  up  like  a  dome,  and  sunk  like  a  bowl  else- 
where, the  beach-mark  records  the  fact  by  its  distance  above 
the  sea  which  has  a  regular  curve  everywhere. 


292  DEPOSITION. 

In  reading  this  larger  record,  the  denuding  action  of 
waves  must  be  considered.  On  coasts  above  mentioned  no 
beaches  are  formed  at  exposed  points.  The  rocks  are  bare ; 
but  they  are  broken  or  sawn,  or  otherwise  worn  and  marked 
between  wind  and  water.  Some  are  drilled,  pierced,  or  blown 
up,  so  as  to  form  pot-holes,  caves,  and  arches ;  others  are 
cliffs,  and  under  some  of  these  are  fallen  talus-heaps. 

It  is  a  question  of  temperature  and  tides,  rise  and  fall  of 
level,  whether  waves  demolish  rock,  or  pack  chips  at  the 
water-margin.  So  if  the  real  beach  is  found  anywhere,  a 
worn  shelf  at  the  same  level  is  not  far  distant.  One  is  at 
the  point  if  the  other  is  in  the  bay.  Woodcuts  at  page 
357,  vol.  i.,  are  meant  to  illustrate  this  fact ;  which  the  author 
of  "Ancient  Sea-Margins  in  the  British  Isles"  pointed  out 
long  ago.  Applied  by  him  to  Scandinavian  records,  the  rule 
proved  that  Finmark  rose  like  a  bow.  If  sea-margins  were 
traced  round  the  world,  they  might  perhaps  prove  that  the 
land  has  waves  like  the  sea. 

The  changing  form  of  a  breaking  wave  is  hard  to  copy, 
its  movements  puzzle  mathematicians  ;  but  these  facts  appear 
to  be  right  so  far  as  they  go.  The  form  of  a  wave  drawn  by 
light  may  be  compared  with  other  fixed  forms ;  and  photo- 
graphs of  breaking  waves,  made  and  bought  for  the  purpose, 
have  led  to  these  conclusions.  The  woodcut,  p.  261,  is  from 
a  photograph.  With  it  compare  the  portraits  of  snow-waves 
(pp.  293,  298),  the  cuts  on  pp.  272, 286,  299.  Compare  these 
with  the  portraits  of  clouds,  vol.  i.  p.  33  ;  of  trees  bent  by  the 
wind,  pp.  31,  59.  Compare  the  cuts  in  chaps,  v.,  vi.,  vii.,  viii., 
which  illustrate  movements  in  air  and  water,  with  real  waves, 
snow-drifts,  and  beaches ;  and  these  forms  will  seem  to  be 
copies  of  movements  and  records  of  force,  the  spoor  of  the 
sea  and  the  wind,  and  natural  photographs.  The  force 


WAVES — BEACHES. 


293 


which  makes  a  collection  of  fluid  particles  move,  and  take  a 
certain  form  for  a  time,  when  transferred  to  solid  particles 
makes  them  move  in  the  same  way,  and  take  like  forms,  which 
endure.  In  fluids  the  form  cannot  last ;  in  solids  it  may. 
In  the  photograph  reflected  light  so  acted  as  to  pack  solids 
in  certain  forms;  the  water-wave  was  copied  in  silver  by 
light-waves,  and  it  has  the  shape  of  the  beach. 

The  wave  and  the  beach,  like  the  photograph,  may  result 
from  waves  in  light. 

Thus  form  appears  to  record  that  light  acted  as  force, 
directly  or  indirectly,  through  other  materials, — as  KAY- 
FORCE,  which  is  only  perceived  where  it  has  accumulated  at 
the  end  of  a  long  train. 

The  cut  below  is  a  copy  of  a  natural  snow-photograph  of 
an  air-wave  made  this  year. 


Fio.  96.  A  SNOW-WAVE  IN  CHESHIRE. 

Sketched  from  nature,  January  28,  1865,  after  a  strong  breeze  of  wind. 

Horizontal  distance  from  the  edge  of  the  snow-breaker  to  the  wall  on  which  the 

hedge  grew,  two  feet  eight  inches. 


CHAPTEE   XLIX. 

DEPOSITION  5— WINDS  4 — WAVES  4 — STREAM-MAKES. 

TAKING  form  to  be  a  record  of  force,  and  the  force  which 
makes  a  ripple-mark  and  a  beach  to  be  Rays,  acting  through 
a  chain  in  which  air  and  water  are  links  only,  then  similar 
marks  ought  to  be  found  at  all  links  ;  for  instance,  where  water 
has  played  no  part  in  packing  the  chips  of  denudation. 

If  water-waves  are  moved  by  light  acting  through  air, 
then  there  must  be  waves  in  the  air,  and  they  too  must  leave 
their  mark,  if  they  move  solid  particles.  Moving  currents  of 
air  do  in  fact  produce  well-marked  forms  directly  in  solid 
materials,  and  these  may  be  compared  with  fluid  wave-forms 
and  their  work  ;  with  ripple-marks  and  sea-beaches,  new  and 
old. 

Ripple-marks  and  wave-marks  upon  a  beach  only  show  the 
last  direction  in  which  some  force  acted  ;  and  marks  of  the  very 
same  pattern  are  formed  upon  snow,  dust,  dry  sand,  clouds,  etc., 
by  air.  They  are  also  formed  by  boiling  water  in  hot  springs, 
and  in  steam-boilers.  Old  ripple-marks  and  wave-marks  need 
not  be  the  work  of  a  sea  like  the  sea  of  our  times.  They  only 
prove  that  the  marks  were  made  upon  beds  of  solid  particles  by 
some  liquid  or  gas  ;  and  that  the  temperature  then  was  some- 
where between  two  extremes — the  melting  point  of  the  packed 
solid,  and  the  freezing  point  of  the  fluid  which  packed  it. 
These  marks  do  not  record  that  they  were  made  upon  sea- 
margins,  for  they  are  made  by  currents  of  air  moving  at  the 


WAVES — MARKS.  295 

bottom  of  the  air-ocean,  and  they  are  made  at  the  sea-bottom 
as  far  down  as  we  can  see,  or  feel  with  a  plummet.  On  the 
very  top  of  Eyriks  Jokull  in  Iceland  (see  vol.  i.  p.  429), 
where  the  temperature  can  rarely  exceed  the  freezing  point 
of  water,  the  snow  was  found  to  be  beautifully  ripple- 
marked  by  the  wind  at  a  height  of  6000  feet  or  more. 
The  marks  proved  that  the  temperature  had  not  exceeded 
the  melting  point  of  snow  since  the  particles  of  snow  were 
arranged,  so  water  was  not  the  fluid  which  made  the  mark ; 
but  the  temperature  may  have  fallen  to  any  point  be- 
tween 32°  and  the  freezing  point  of  air  (if  it  has  one),  and  if 
air  made  the  mark  ;  or  it  might  have  been  made  by  any  other 
fluid  or  gas,  if  there  were  a  doubt  about  the  composition  of 
the  atmosphere  at  the  top  of  the  hill. 

On  a  lower  hill-top  in  the  Faro  Islands,  in  July  1862,  at 
places  where  snow  had  lately  melted,  bare  gravel  was  arranged 
in  regular  ridges  and  furrows  ;  sometimes  running  up  and 
down  hills,  but  always  running  nearly  north  and  south,  and 
always  at  places  fully  exposed  to  the  west  wind. 

The  largest  stones  were  in  the  hollows,  the  finest  upon  the 
top  of  the  ridges,  which  is  also  the  case  on  sea-beaches.  The 
stones  were  about  the  size  of  apples,  walnuts,  hazel-nuts,  peas, 
and  small  shot.  The  ridges  were  about  a  foot  apart,  and  at 
one  place  the  hill-side  looked  like  a  ploughed  field  some 
forty  yards  square.  The  apparent  cause  was  the  flowing  of 
small  streams  from  melting  snowdrifts.  But  the  same  form 
recurred  where  that  explanation  would  not  suffice — for 
example,  on  level  places  ;  and  it  never  occurred  at  places 
sheltered  from  the  west  wind,  even  where  melting  snow- 
drifts were  on  slopes  above  beds  of  gravel. 

These  were  tracks  of  the  invisible  wind,  large  ripple- 
marks  made  by  air-waves  in  deep  air,  on  beds  of  gravel 


29G  DEPOSITION. 

loosened  by  frosts,  and  driven  "by  currents  moving  eastwards 
at  the  bottom  of  the  atmosphere. 

Similar  forms  occur  in  similar  materials,  in  many  parts  of 
Iceland  at  lower  levels,  at  Helgafell  and  elsewhere.  So  the 
air  has  waves  for  a  depth  equal  to  the  height  of  the  tallest 
hill  in  Iceland,  and  the  sea  may  have  them  at  the  greatest 
depth  in  the  ocean.  Such  marks  are  common  on  Scotch 
hills,  and  further  south  ;  and  any  one  who  has  walked  over 
a  bare  hill-top  or  on  the  sea-shore  in  a  heavy  gale,  may  have 
seen  and  felt  gravel  rolling  and  flying  before  the  wind. 

This  is  a  mark  which  a  geologist  would  be  apt  to  attribute 
to  water,  if  he  found  it  in  an  old  rock  ;  yet  water  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  It  simply  means  that  some  force  moved 
gravel  from  west  to  east,  and  that  the  temperature  has  not 
been  hot  enough  to  melt  gravel  since  it  was  so  packed.  The 
form  is  but  a  copy  of  a  wave,  and  in  this  case  it  is  a  copy  of 
an  air-wave  at  the  bottom  of  the  air. 

At  the  Geyser,  where  water  flows  from  the  spring  at  a 
heat  of  212°  or  thereabouts,  the  stone  which  it  deposits  as  it 
cools  is  beautifully  ripple-marked  in  tiny  waves,  which  cross 
the  direction  of  the  moving  stream. 

In  steam-boilers  the  earthy  material  which  is  deposited 
from  boiling  water  has  a  ripple-marked  surface,  which  shows 
the  direction  of  the  prevailing  movement  within  the  boiler. 

A  ripple-mark  upon  a  bed  of  silt,  old  or  new,  only  proves 
that  some  force  caused  motion  in  some  fluid,  and  in  a  parti- 
cular direction,  and  that  the  material  moved  has  not  been 
greatly  altered  since  that  time. 

The  engine  set  to  do  the  work  may  have  been  made 
of  any  gas  or  fluid,  at  any  temperature  above  its  freezing 
point  ;  it  may  have  been  air  far  below  zero,  or  high-pressure 
steam  ;  but  the  maximum  temperature,  within  certain  limits 


WAVES — MARKS.  297 

of  time,  at  any  spot  is  fixed  by  a  ripple-mark  on  any  material, 
at  some  point  below  fusion  in  the  substance  marked. 

The  lowest  ripple-mark  in  the  geological  series  proves 
that  the  rock  upon  which  it  is  found  is  a  rubbish-heap,  and 
that  the  fusing  point  of  that  rock  has  never  been  passed 
at  that  place  since  the  rubbish  was  chipped  off  and  packed. 
It  does  not  prove  that  climate  was  the  same  as  now  at 
the  surface,  or  under  the  sea,  which  rippled  over  Laurentian 
sand. 

Air,  the  last  link  in  the  shorter  chain,  makes  other  marks 
in  packing  solids.  In  England,  where  snow  is  the  exception, 
great  snow-waves,  solid  white  rollers,  and  stationary  breakers, 
may  often  be  seen  after  a  strong  gale.  Entangled  half-melted 
snow-crystals  driven  by  the  wind  may  be  likened  to  silt 
moved  by  water-streams,  and  the  surface  of  the  snow-bed  to  a 
sandbank  below  the  sea.  But  snow-crystals  stick  together 
more  than  sand ;  and  drifted  snow-heaps  resemble  water-waves 
more  closely  than  sea-beaches.  Snowdrifts  are  air-marks  on 
solid  water,  dust-copies  of  air-waves.  When  a  strong  gale 
blows,  drifting  snow  takes  the  shape  of  the  currents  which 
move  it.  Drifts  gather  to  windward  and  to  leeward  of  anything 
which  rises  above  the  surface,  and  so  drifts  change  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind.  The  wind  splits  upon  a  post ;  so  a  point  of 
snow  of  a  particular  shape  forms  to  windward  of  the  post,  and 
another  heap  of  a  different  form  gathers  to  leeward  in  the 
shelter. 

A  heap  of  snow  changes  the  direction  of  the  wind  and 
affords  shelter ;  so  waves  and  ridges  of  snow  cross  the  direction 
of  the  gale,  and  these  roll  slowly  on  piecemeal,  taking  the  form 
of  rolling  waves  of  air.  When  a  wall  or  a  hedge  stops  a  drift, 
the  wind  whirls  the  snow  over  the  top,  and  into  the  shelter, 
and  makes  a  snow  model  of  the  curved  path. 


298 


DEPOSITION. 


It  is  a  copy  of  a  breaker,  a  snow-beach  arranged  by  a  sea 
of  air. 

In  high  mountains,  these  snow-waves  are  often  of  gigantic 
size.  They  are  snow-beaches,  the  drifts  of  m  any  wi  nters,  and  the 
work  of  prevailing  winds,  which  have  blown  for  ages  at  odd 
times,  so  they  are  not  regular  in  form  ;  but  in  the  High  Alps, 
and  in  Iceland,  snow-beds  may  be  seen  curling  over  high 
cliffs,  like  the  crest  of  a  vast  roller  in  act  to  fall  upon  a  beach. 
When  snow  is  drifting,  the  whirling  movement  of  the  air 
which  models  the  curved  form  of  the  drift  is  apparent  in 
the  movements  of  snow-flakes  driven  over  the  hills.  Of  such 


FIG.  97.  SECTION  OF  A  SNOW-BEACH.     Copied  from  a  drift  in  the  south  of  England. 

drifts  excellent  copies  are  commonly  made  by  the  help  of 
light.  But  an  English  snow-drift  is  as  good  an  illustration 
of  the  principle  as  the  largest  snow-heap  in  the  world. 

What  is  true  of  snow  is  true  of  dry  sand.  The  material 
will  not  retain  form  so  well  as  snow,  but  the  movements  are 
the  same,  and  dry  sand  records  them  imperfectly. 

Sand  in  water  retains  form  worse  than  it  does  in  air,  for 
it  is  easier  moved  in  the  fluid  which  partially  floats  it ;  but 
the  arrangement  of  sand  by  wind  upon  dry  ground  explains 
the  packing  of  silt  in  water  where  it  cannot  be  reached.  It 
is  ocean-work,  but  work  done  by  waves  in  the  deep  air. 

On  the   sandy  plains   of  Iceland  these   sand-drifts  are 


WAVES — MAKKS. 


299 


well  seen.  Long  points  and  ridges  form  to  windward  and  to 
leeward  of  every  stone  post  and  plant.  Large  ripple-marked 
sand-waves  roll  over  the  plain,  and  stop  in  every  shelter. 
The  air  is  filled  with  clouds  of  moving  sand,  which  fly  from 
drift  to  drift,  and  from  hill  to  hill,  like  spin-drift  from  the 
waves  of  the  sea.  Clouds  of  fine  ashes  rise  up,  and  float 
along  hill-sides  like  mist,  and  dust  gets  everywhere.  In 
the  shelter,  drifts  assume  the  angle  at  which  dry  sand  can 
rest  in  still  air.  To  windward  is  a  sloping  hill,  to  leeward  a 
sand-talus,  whose  angle  is  about  32°.  But  when  sand  is 
wetted,  and  acquires  more  cohesion,  it  copies  the  form  of  the 
breaking  sea-wave  more  nearly. 

Near  a  pool  of  water,  damp  sand  forms  a  perpendicular  or 
overhanging  wall  on  the  sheltered  side,  and  a  slope  where  the 
bank  is  exposed. 


PIG.  98.  DAMP  SAND  BEACHES  PACKED  BY  AIR-WAVES  NEAR  A  RIVULET  IN  ICELAND. 

All  these  sand-forms  are  but  modifications  of  wave-forms, 
and  copies  of  air-waves  ;  and  they  may  be  seen  wherever  there 
is  drifting  sand. 

Near  the  Findhorn  in  Moray  is  a  curious  tract  covered 
with  moving  sand-hills.*  The  sea  throws  up  wet  sand,  which 
dries,  and  the  prevailing  south-west  wind  drives  it  eastwards 
along  the  coast. 

Great  yellow  hills,  100  feet  high,  are  the  sand-waves  of 

*  This  district  is  well  described  in  Wild  Sports  of  the  Highlands  (chap, 
xx.),  Journals  of  Charles  St.  John  ;  Murray,  1846.  See  also  Natural  History 
and  Sport  in  Moray,  by  the  same  author  ;  Edin.  1863. 


300  DEPOSITION. 

this  sandy  sea,  and  though  they  move  with  extreme  slowness, 
they  have  covered  iip  whole  farms  within  historic  times.  In 
the  trough  of  these  waves,  old  wheel-tracks  and  ploughed  land, 
the  stone  implements  of  a  forgotten  race  of  savage  Scotchmen, 
even  golden  ornaments,  are  occasionally  laid  bare  by  the  wind ; 
and  the  old  surface  of  the  "  land  under  the  waves "  reappears 
for  a  time.  Tt  is  like  the  rest  of  that  part  of  Moray — a  mass 
of  boulders. 

When  the  wind  blows,  the  movement  may  be  watched. 
Close  to  the  ground  yellow  streams  of  fine  sand  may  be  seen 
waving  from  side  to  side,  and  bounding  from  point  to  point,  in 
curved  paths,  like  the  wind  which  moves  them.  Wherever  there 
is  a  hollow,  sand  rests  in  the  shelter.  The  trough  of  every  ripple- 
mark  fills  gradually,  but  the  back  of  the  miniature  wave  is 
constantly  wearing  away.  A  grain  of  sand  does  not  fly  or 
roll  straight  on  and  continuously ;  it  moves  in  curves,  and 
travels  by  fits  and  starts.  It  is  turn  about — the  lowest  grain 
beneath  the  crest  of  a  ripple,  then  the  highest  in  the  trough, 
and  exposed  to  the  wind.  It  rolls  up  the  back  of  the  wave, 
shoots  over,  and  falls  like  the  crest  of  a  breaker  ;  and  then 
more  grains  fall  on  it,  and  shelter  it  for  a  time.  But  while 
the  upper  surface  is  thus  moving  to  a  certain  depth,  a  lower 
stratum  of  damp  sand  takes  time  to  dry  and  move.  Sand  in 
motion  is  rolling  over  sand  at  rest,  as  sea-waves  roll  over  still 
water. 

The  larger  hills  advance  on  the  same  principle.  The  slope 
to  windward  turns  the  wind  upwards,  and  loose  sand  rolls  and 
flies  up-hill  before  it,  rippling  like  waves  upon  an  ocean-roller, 
till  it  takes  a  final  leap  over  the  hill-top,  and  falls  into  the 
shelter.  There  it  may  be  watched  falling  and  sliding  down, 
and  forming  a  perfectly  regular  slope  of  sand — a  talus  in  the 
calm.  The  base  is  continually  advancing  in  the  same  direc- 


WAVES — MAKKS.  301 

tion  as  the  wind,  and  a  succession  of  strata  are  being  deposited 
there  at  an  angle  of  32°.  Amongst  these  hills,  chiefly  in  the 
hollows,  bent,  whin,  and  other  plants  occasionally,  take  root 
and  flourish.  They  stop  the  movement  where  they  grow,  but 
only  for  a  time.  The  sand-waves  march  steadily  on.  The 
crest  follows  the  trough  ;  the  whin-bush  is  buried  in  the  middle 
of  a  hill  50  or  100  feet  high  ;  and  by  the  time  the  buried 
plant  comes  up  behind  the  wave,  it  has  long  ceased  to  live. 
When  the  wind  blows  from  the  east,  or  from  any  other  point, 
the  movement  changes.  The  shape  of  the  sand-hills  is  irregular, 
but  the  prevailing  wind  is  from  the  west,  and  form  shows  it. 

This  sand-flood,  in  its  eastward  course,  meets  the  Findhorn 
river  flowing  north.  The  water  is  too  wide  to  be  crossed  at  a 
bound,  except  in  very  high  gales  ;  so  the  sand  falls  into  the 
water.  The  river  washes  it  out  to  sea,  and  the  sea  washes  it 
up  the  firth  ;  treats  it  according  to  the  fashion  of  sea-waves, 
and  throws  it  up  again  for  the  wind  to  deal  with. 

When  the  tide  ebbs,  the  sea-bottom  is  exposed,  and  there 
is  no  single  form  upon  dry  sand  that  is  not  to  be  found  upon 
a  wet  sandbank,  when  the  tide  ebbs  far  enough  for  the  banks 
to  be  seen.  Stream-marks  on  shore  explain  old  sea-marks. 

There  is,  however,  this  notable  difference  between  land- 
drifts  and  sea-drifts  : — the  sea-forms  are  all  flatter  and  lower, 
and  the  reason  is  plain.  If  a  conical  pile  of  dry  sand  is  made 
in  air  by  pouring  sand  upon  a  flat  base  through  a  funnel,  the 
sides  will  make  a  certain  angle  with  the  horizon,  about  32°. 

But  when  dry  sand  is  poured  through  the  funnel  into  water 
till  the  cone  reaches  the  same  height,  the  sides  make  a  very 
different  angle  : — the  slope  is  far  greater,  the  base  broader,  the 
sides  of  the  hill  less  steep.  It  is  still  a  conical  mound,  but 
it  is  a  flatter  cone.  So  sand-drifts  and  sand-waves,  made  by 
currents  of  water  in  water,  are  generally  less  steep  than  the 


302  DEPOSITION — WAVES — MAEKS. 

same  form,  made  by  currents  of  air  in  air.  But  both  result 
from  the  force  which  moves  air. 

The  bottom  of  the  sea  cannot  be  reached  directly,  but  by 
feeling  with  the  lead  its  shape  is  pretty  well  known  in  many 
places.  It  is  nowhere  flat,  but  is  ripple-marked  everywhere — 
varied  by  hill  and  dale,  by  sandbank,  shoal,  and  hollow  chan- 
nel Where  currents  move,  sand-forms  which  result  are  alike 
on  shore,  in  air,  on  beaches,  and  in  soundings.  Snowdrifts 
and  sandhills  show  what  is  taking  place  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean,  and  why  there  are  drifting  hills  and  dales  even  there. 

Sedimentary  rocks  are  chiefly  old  rubbish-heaps  packed 
in  the  sea.  In  the  coal-formation  beds  are  worked  out,  so  as 
to  leave  casts  of  their  surface.  Beds  of  ironstone,  for  example, 
are  worked  in  Lanarkshire,  and  the  roof  of  the  mine  gives  a 
sandstone  cast  of  the  bed  below  it,  after  the  bed  has  been 
worked  out.  In  some  of  these  mines  the  form  of  the  roof  is 
that  of  mud-banks  now  visible  at  low  water  in  the  Firth  of 
Clyde.  There  are  domes  which  covered  mounds  ;  and  wedges 
which  filled  hollows  like  watercourses.  The  roof  and  floor 
approach  each  other  where  the  mud  was  washed  away,  where 
the  trough  of  the  mud-wave  was. 

Similar  forms  recur  in  every  sedimentary  bed.  These  are 
old  sea-marks ;  they  may  also  be  old  photographs.  According 
to  the  evidence  of  sand-drifts,  snow-drifts,  and  old  rocks,  that 
which  is  now  going  on  above  water  goes  on  under  it,  and  has 
been  going  on  since  sand  and  dust,  water  and  air,  were  moved 
by  sunlight,  heat,  and  gravitation.  The  surface-forms  of  old 
silt-beds  do  but  record  that  forces  which  now  work,  have 
worked  air  and  water  engines,  and  that  sunlight,  which  is  a 
force,  may  have  worked  the  tools.  The  guide  to  the  force  is 
still  form.  The  tool-mark  points  out  the  tool,  and  that  leads 
to  the  engine,  and  to  the  power  which  works  it,  and  to  Him 
who  set  the  task,  and  created  a  power  when  He  made  light. 


CHAPTEK    L. 

DEPOSITION  6 — BEDDING — RAIN-MARKS. 

ACCORDING  to  an  old  saw,  "  Because  the  mountain  would  not  go 
to  Mahomet,  Mahomet  went  to  the  mountain."  He  did  the  best 
he  could  under  the  circumstances,  and  men  who  study  nature 
can  do  no  more.  The  frog  who  tried  to  grow  too  fast,  burst 
ignominiously  ;  if  he  had  been  content  to  look  at  his  world 
with  tadpole's  eyes  at  first,  he  might  have  lived  to  grow  and 
learn  modestly  from  little  things  around  him.  If  both  ends  of 
a  chain  of  cause  and  effect  are  out  of  reach,  it  is  best  to  study 
the  links  which  surround  us,  and  "  creep  before  we  gang." 

It  is  impossible  to  watch  the  packing  of  silt  in  the  deep 
sea,  it  is  possible  to  watch  a  similar  process  in  shallow 
water  and  on  shore  ;  on  the  sea-beach ;  amongst  the  sand- 
hills of  Moray ;  amongst  snow-showers  and  snow-drifts.  It 
is  impossible  to  watch  the  progress  of  a  tidal  wave  from  Cape 
Horn  to  England ;  smaller  Atlantic  waves  are  apt  to  sicken 
those  who  swing  over  them  ;  but  waves  in  a  puddle  may  be 
watched  at  ease  throughout  their  course,  and  from  these  small 
things  a  large  lesson  may  be  learned.  Because  moving  water- 
mountains  go  their  own  way,  and  will  not  be  controlled  by 
little  men,  little  waves  have  been  summoned  from  little  ponds 
to  act  the  part  of  their  giant  kin,  and  work  denudation  and 
deposition  on  a  small  scale.  This  much  may  suffice  to  explain 


304  DEPOSITION. 

what  was  meant  by  learning  to  translate  old  geological  records, 
by  watching  geological  engines  now  at  work,  and  by  making 
miniature  engines  in  imitation  of  them. 

Air  and  water  are  engines  which  work  deposition,  and  the 
chief  mechanical  power  employed  about  the  work  is  the  gravi- 
tation which  sinks  the  silt  in  water,  or  makes  the  sand  or 
snow  fall  in  air.  Therefore  experiments  made  with  water, 
silt,  and  weight,  are  but  natural  operations  on  a  scale  suited 
to  small  observers.  It  is  easy  to  make  ripple-marks,  and 
beaches,  and  all  surface-marks  of  their  class,  by  stirring  a 
muddy  puddle  :  it  is  equally  easy  to  make  small  geological  for 
mations  grow  rapidly,  and  watch  the  whole  process  at  home. 
One  heavy  clog  on  geological  study  is  the  impossibility  of 
watching  the  progress  of  work  ;  but  if  this  difficulty  cannot  be 
overcome  it  may  be  circumvented.  Gravitation  may  be  set 
to  work  in  a  glass  tank.  As  an  illustration  the  following 
arrangement  was  made  : — 

February  Vlfh,  1863. — A  glass  tank  with  flat  sides  was  half 
filled  with  Thames  water  as  supplied  in  London.  A  glass 
funnel  was  placed  in  a  retort-stand,  so  that  the  end  of  the 
funnel  touched  the  water  near  one  end  of  the  tank.  Through 
this  channel  finely  divided  materials  of  various  colours  and 
specific  gravities  were  poured  in  the  following  order  : — 
1.  "Silver  sand;"  2.  Coarse  granite  sand  from  the  Scilly 
Isles  ;  3.  Fine  pipeclay  mud,  squeezed  in  with  a  sponge ; 
4.  Coarse  yellow  sand ;  5.  Silver  sand  ;  6.  Yellow  sand  ;  7. 
Very  fine  dark  river  mud,  part  of  a  ball  in  which  a  mud-fish 
was  brought  home  from  the  river  Zambesi  in  Africa  ;  8.  Sil- 
ver sand  ;  9.  Zambesi  mud  ;  10.  Silver  sand  ;  11.  Zambesi 
mud  ;  12.  Silver  sand  ;  13.  Pipeclay  to  make  a  white  sur- 
face. In  spreading  from  the  channel  through  which  they  fell, 
these  materials  formed  themselves  into  a  conical  mound  (vol. 


BEDDING — KAIN-MARKS.  305 

i.  pp.  378,  380) ;  but  the  base  of  the  heap  could  not  spread 
beyond  the  glass  walls,  and  the  edges  of  the  forming  layers 
were  seen  through  them.  Four  vertical  sections  of  a  stratified 
mound  were  seen  forming  at  different  distances  from  the 
channel  by  which  the  materials  entered,  and  they  varied  in 
shape,  colour,  and  material.  No  one  of  them  presented  thir- 
teen flat  layers  arranged  in  the  order  in  which  the  materials 
were  poured  ;  instead  of  thirteen  beds  there  were  nearly 
thirty.  A  large  river  brings  down  mud,  sand,  gravel,  and 
larger  stones  of  varying  size  and  weight  at  various  seasons. 
An  ocean-current  may  carry  various  substances  at  different 
geological  periods ;  it  may  carry  the  shells  of  tropical  infu- 
soria, or  floating  moraines ;  but  whatever  the  materials  may 
be,  the  same  gravitation  which  packs  it  in  the  sea  worked  in 
the  glass  tank,  and  there  the  operation  could  be  watched. 
At  first  the  water  was  thick  with  small  suspended  particles 
of  all  the  materials  poured  in.  To  imitate  nature,  bits  of 
ice  were  floated  at  one  end,  N".,  and  sun-light  was  allowed  to 
shine  on  the  other,  S.  (vol.  i.  p.  68).  This  arrangement  of 
temperature  moved  the  miniature  engine,  and  it  worked 
accordingly.  The  water  about  the  ice  cleared,  and  a  thin  layer 
of  clean  cold  water  floated,  because  that  water  was  about  33° 
(vol.  i.  p.  75) ;  but  columns  of  cold  wrater  (about  37°)  sank 
down  from  the  ice  (p.  78),  and  the  falling  streams  carried 
suspended  mud  rapidly  downwards.  Wherever  an  iceberg  is 
melting,  the  same  thing  must  happen  on  a  larger  scale.  On 
the  outer  surface  of  the  glass  the  downward  curve  of  move- 
ment was  shown  by  vapour  condensed  on  the  glass.  Wher- 
ever a  cold  mass  stands  in  warmer  air,  like  movements  and 
condensation  of  vapour  result.  The  curves  of  temperature 
were  shown  within  by  clouds  of  mud,  as  curves  of  temperature 
are  shown  by  clouds  in  the  air  (chap,  v.)  As  these  mud- 

x 


306 


DEPOSITION. 


clouds  fell,  layers  began  to  form  on  the  uneven  surface  below, 
and  these  followed  every  curve  which  had  resulted  from  the 
method  of  pouring  in  the  heavier  and  coarser  materials.  Hori- 
zontal layers  of  falling  silt  formed  in  the  water,  and  sank 
gradually,  settling  upon  each  other,  but  varying  in  shape  as 
the  currents  of  cold  water  moved  them  from  N.  to  S.  below 
while  warmer  currents  moved  them  from  S.  to  N.  above. 


FIG. 


A  WORKING  MODEL  OF  A  MARINE  FORMATION. 


Wave-marks  and  ripple-marks  were  formed  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  mud,  and  fresh  layers  were  seen  to  form  against 
the  glass.  The  heavier  particles  forced  their  way  through 
the  falling  shower,  and  these  beds,  in  forming  slowly,  assumed 
a  very  complicated  structure. 

White  clay  and  brown  mud  separated  and  mingled,  and 
took  strange  branching  tree-like  shapes,  like  those  which 
occur  in  mottled  sandstones.  These  are  called  "  dendritic 
concretions,"  and  have  been  attributed  to  electrical  action ; 
in  the  tank  they  resulted  from  mechanical  action  alone.  The 
bed  of  silt,  in  gathering  weight,  squeezed  out  the  water, 
and  the  water  in  rising  displaced  and  pushed  up  the  lightest 


BEDDING — RAIN-MAKKS.  307 

particles  of  mud.  Through  a  lens  the  opsration  was  seen ; 
some  grains  were  falling  slowly,  as  snow  falls  in  still  air, 
others  were  rising  in  jets  and  fountains  of  water  squeezed  out 
by  the  growing  weight  above  ;  others  again  were  drifting 
before  the  currents,  as  snow  and  clouds  drift  before  the  wind. 
When  the  water  cleared,  the  surface  of  the  mud  was  a  white 
surface  of  deposition  with  current-marks,  the  sides  of  the 
mound  a  section  of  a  small  geological  formation  ;  and  the 
whole  operation  had  been  seen  from  beginning  to  end. 
Temperature  and  gravitation  had  been  set  to  work  a  small 
engine,  and  it  packed  silt  as  the  sea  does. 

By  March  24  the  surface  of  the  mud  was  covered  with 
minute  water-plants,  green  and  brown,  which  grew  from  their 
invisible  seeds  and  spread  from  centres.  About  these  plants 
minute  bubbles  of  gas  formed,  and  more  formed  beneath  the 
mud,  amongst  the  sand,  and  under  the  plants.  In  expanding, 
these  gas-baloons  lifted  plants,  sand,  and  mud.  When  the 
raising  power  of  the  gas  had  gathered  sufficiently,  a  net  of 
green,  studded  with  shining  balls  of  gas,  and  with  sand  and 
mud  entangled  in  the  ineshes,  rose  to  the  surface,  and  there 
hung  suspended  till  the  gas  escaped.  Then  the  system  fell 
slowly  down  again  at  a  new  place.  As  there  were  currents 
in  the  tank  whenever  the  sun  shone,  upward,  lateral,  and 
downward  movements  and  transport  of  inorganic  materials 
resulted  from  this  minute  water  vegetation,  and  from  the  ar- 
rangement of  temperature  which  worked  the  engine. 

Similar  action  must  result  from  the  chemistry  of  vegetation 
and  sun-light  wherever  water-plants  grow  upon  beds  of  silt ; 
and  old  sedimentary  rocks  must  record  movements  like  those 
which  were  seen  in  the  glass  tank. 

The  tank  was  kept  as  a  microscopic  vivarium,  in  the  hope 
of  finding  some  African  monster.  It  was  covered  with  a 


308  DEPOSITION. 

sheet  of  glass,  but  exposed  to  air  and  light ;  and  by  July  the 
water  was  peopled  with  living  creatures  hatched  in  the  mud. 
They  could  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye,  and  better  still  with 
a  lens  or  microscope.  They  played  and  fought  and  gambolled 
in  their  forest  of  tiny  plants  ;  they  died  and  were  buried  in 
the  stratified  beds  of  their  little  world.  They  were  chiefly 
home-bred  Thames-water  monsters ;  if  any  were  of  African 
descent,  they  were  eaten  up  by  hungry  English  crustaceans, 
or  overlooked.  While  these  lived,  they  too  helped  to  shape 
the  silt-beds  above  which  they  swam  ;  they  left  their  tracks 
on  the  surface,  and  their  dead  bodies  fell  amongst  the  withered 
plants  which  formed  the  upper  layer  in  this  bedded  sedimen- 
tary deposit. 

By  December  22  a  layer  of  water  six  inches  deep  had 
been  lifted  up  and  carried  away  by  the  sun  ;  evaporation  was 
rapid  while  the  weather  was  hot,  and  no  condensation — no 
rain,  had  made  up  the  waste.  Meantime  the  vegetation  had 
become  a  thick  mat  on  glass  and  mud,  and  the  water-fleas 
were  numerous,  active,  and  ravenous.  The  top  of  the  sand- 
heap  had  risen  above  water,  and  had  become  a  circular  island, 
similar  in  shape  to  islands  of  boulders  in  the  Baltic,  along 
the  Swedish  coast.  By  stirring  the  puddle,  the  island  was 
worn  by  miniature  waves  ;  and  beaches  and  terraces  were 
worn  and  built,  "eroded  and  deposited"  near  high-water  mark. 
As  the  water  fell  lower  a  repetition  of  the  disturbance  made 
a  series  like  those  shown  above  (vol.  i.  p.  334). 

Lastly,  a  stream  of  water  poured  through  the  old  funnel 
cut  water  courses  in  the  island,  and  built  deltas  in  the  water 
about  it  (chap,  x.) 

So  within  the  compass  of  a  glass  tank  many  natural  phe- 
nomena may  be  imitated  and  watched  :  —  denudation  by 
water-streams,  the  habits  of  crustaceans,  the  growth  of  plants, 


BEDDING — RAIN-MARKS.  309 

the  formation  of  surfaces  of  deposition,  and  the  deposition 
of  beds  of  silt  :  geology,  natural  history,  and  botany. 

It  is  needless  to  enlarge  upon  this  toy.  It  is  obvious  that 
a  working  section  of  river-mud  may  be  got  anywhere  by 
planting  a  glass  under  water  ;  a  glass  tumbler  and  a  handful 
of  mire  will  show  the  process  of  geological  deposition  at  home, 
to  any  one  who  will  condescend  to  learn  from  common  little 
dirty  things.  It  is  impossible  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  ;  but  if  sunken  mountains  be  out  of  reach,  it  is  very  easy 
to  make  mole-hills  like  them  in  a  glass  tank,  by  imitating 
nature,  and  by  setting  natural  forces  to  work  natural  engines 
of  small  size. 

Having  thus  taken  one  small  step  under  water,  the  next 
stride  is  upwards  on  land.  We  cannot  get  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  but  we  live  at  the  bottom  of  a  sea  of  air,  and  deposi- 
tion of  strata  goes  on  about  us. 

The  rocks  with  which  geologists  now  chiefly  deal  are 
stratified  sedimentary  beds,  in  which  plants  and  animals  were 
buried ;  most  of  these  are  made  of  chips  which  were  ground 
off  solid  rocks,  and  fell  through  water.  The  formation  of 
beds  by  the  falling  of  heavy  solid  particles  of  frozen  water 
through  air  is  a  similar  process,  for  it  is  an  effect  of  gravita- 
tion, and  it  can  be  watched  ;  snow-drifts  are  formed  by 
streams  as  sand-banks  are.  The  snow-formation  only  endures 
so  long  as  the  temperature  is  less  than  32°,  but  while  it  lasts 
it  is  a  fusible  geological  formation  of  sedimentary  beds. 

Like  these,  Icelandic  strands,  deltas,  and  plains,  are  made 
of  fragments  of  fusible  frozen  lava,  which  would  certainly 
melt  again  at  some  high  temperature.  While  they  last  these 
also  are  parts  of  a  "  fusible  sedimentary  geological  formation." 
The  snow-formation  is  but  the  last  of  a  series,  fusible  at  a 
lower  temperature  than  those  upon  which  it  falls.  Sandstone 


310  DEPOSITION. 

beds  are  like  the  rest ;  beds  of  a  silicious  sediment  which  is 
melted  in  making  glass.  Lava  and  silica,  like  water,  become 
vapour  in  a  sufficient  heat-,  for  they  colour  flame.  Geyser 
water  holds  silica  in  solution,  silicious  shells  extract  it  from 
sea-water.  Snow  is  but  a  sediment  easier  to  melt  and  harder 
to  freeze  than  the  rest :  all  sedimentary  rocks  are  fusible  :  all 
their  materials  sink  when  cold,  solid,  and  heavy  ;  flow  when 
fused  ;  rise  when  hot  and  light.  One  sedimentary  bed  packed 
by  gravitation  and  a  circulating  fluid  is  as  good  as  another 
for  studying  the  process  of  mechanical  arrangement,  and  a 
snow-bed  is  the  easiest  to  get  at  in  the  series. 

In  lofty  mountains  these  sedimentary  water-beds  may  be 
seen  resting  upon  sedimentary  beds  of  like  form.  Avalanches 
and  landslips  fall  from  lofty  cliffs,  and  their  fallen  debris 
takes  the  same  talus-slope.  The  mechanical  action  is  the 
same,  though  snow  and  grit  melt  and  freeze  at  different  tem- 
peratures. In  Iceland  snow-beds  occasionally  alternate  with 
beds  of  ashes,  which  fall  during  eruptions,  and  drift  at  all 
times ;  the  packing  process  is  the  very  same,  it  must  still  be 
the  same,  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  It  must  have  been  the 
same  ever  since  gravitation  worked  deposition  there,  or  any- 
where. 

In  some  geological  books  it  seems  to  be  assumed  that  all 
strata  are  deposited  flat.  It  was  not  so  in  the  model,  it  is  not 
so  on  shore,  and  it  cannot  be  so  on  the  uneven  sea-bottom. 

When  snow  falls  on  rough  ground,  it  is  unequally  de- 
posited even  in  a  calm,  and  silt  must  be  unevenly  spread  for 
the  same  reason. 

Let  the  dark  line  represent  the  outline  of  a  sea-bottom,  or 
of  a  hilly  country,  and  it  is  evident  that  beds  of  snow  or  silt 
must  be  deposited  irregularly  ;  at  various  angles,  at  different 
levels,  and  in  different  quantities  at  different  places. 


BEDDING — KAIN-MAKKS. 


311 


Every  snow-bed  undulates  with  the  ground  beneath  it, 
and  many  beds  slope  because  deposited  upon  a  slope.  The 
snow-shower  which  forms  a  bed  on  the  top  of  a  cliff,  makes 
another  at  the  foot,  and  a  third  in  the  ditch.  For  that  reason, 


Fio.  100.     STRATIFIED  SNOW-BEDS  FORMING. 


sloping  or  separated  beds  of  rock  do  not  necessarily  imply 
disturbance,  for  they  too  may  have  been  deposited  upon  a 
slope,  or  simultaneously  at  different  elevations.  This  evi- 
dent truth  is  proved  by  every  streamlet,  and  on  every  strand 
— where  road-dust  has  been  swept  into  a  gutter  and  left, 
where  a  rivulet  flows  over  sand  into  a  sea,  where  the  tide  ebbs 
and  flows  now,  and  in  geological  sections  of  old  rocks. 

When  snow  drifts,  beds  dip  down-wind  as  they  form ;  when 
sand  is  moved  by  a  river,  the  beds  dip  down-stream.  In  the 
upper  reaches  of  the  Tana,  in  Norway,  the  river  meanders 
amongst  beds  of  sand,  which  it  covers  in  floods,  and  through 
which  it  cuts  sections  at  other  times ;  the  beds  dip  at  all  manner 
of  angles,  but  they  all  dip  one  way.  The  same  is  true  of  Ice- 
landic river-plains,  where  travellers  may  ride  for  many  miles 
over  deltas  of  ashes  and  mud,  alternately  fording  rivers  and 
riding  over  dried  sand-heaps  packed  by  the  winter  floods. 
On  the  wide  strand  about  Mont  St.  Michel,  in  France,  where 
the  tide  ebbs  and  flows  over  sands  for  six  or  eight  miles, 
sections  made  by  streams  show  that  stratified  beds  are  not 


312 


DEPOSITION. 


deposited  as  flat  layers  in  the  sea,  but  may  be  deposited  in 
layers  sloping  opposite  ways,  where  the  stream  which  packs 
them  ebbs  and  flows. 

At  Goat  Island,  in  North  America,  beds  of  gravel,  etc.,  are 
packed  upon  glaciated  rock,  and  the  form  of  the  packing  shows 
that  water  formerly  moved  towards  Buffalo,  instead  of  flowing 


Fio.  101. — DRIFT-BEDS  ON  GOAT  ISLAND,  NIAGARA. 

from  Buffalo  to  Niagara,  as  it  now  does.  No.  1,  the  highest 
of  the  series,  dips  down-stream,  and  was  probably  packed  by 
a  river.  It  contains  fresh-water  shells,  and  consists  chiefly  of 
gravel  and  sand. 

No.  2  is  a  bed  of  stiff  clay,  containing  scratched  stones, 
many  of  which  are  foreign  to  the  district.  Because  this  bed 
is  horizontal,  it  is  probable  that  it  was  formed  in  still  water, 
upon  a  flat  base.  The  lower  part  of  No.  2  is  a  series  of  hori- 
zontal beds  of  gravel,  coarse  sand,  clay,  and  scratched  stones, 
the  lowest  of  which  rest  upon  a  flat  surface  of  reddish  sand. 


BEDDING — RAIN-MARKS.  313 

No.  3,  the  sand,  contains  no  stones,  but  is  disposed  in 
thin  sweeping  beds,  which  have  a  general  dip  of  15°  S.E. 
This  bed  was  packed  by  water,  moving  south-eastwards  ;  but 
till  the  packing  of  silt  had  been  watched  in  models,  in  snow- 
drifts, on  strands,  or  elsewhere,  the  record  could  have  no 
meaning.  No.  4  is  a  bed  of  clay  containing  large  blocks  of 
a  kind  of  rock  which  is  not  found  to  the  south-east,  but 
abounds  to  the  north  of  the  spot.  The  rock  below  this  bed  is 
marked  with  glacial  striae,  which  indicate  the  passage  of 
heavy  ice  towards  the  south  and  west.  The  river  Niagara 
flows  the  other  wray  at  the  foot  of  the  bank,  and  it  has  cut  a 
channel  through  all  these  beds  of  drift,  and  through  some  of 
the  upper  beds  of  glaciated  rock.  Beading  this  old  document 
by  the  help  of  snow-drifts,  the  meaning  seems  to  be,  that 
during  the  time  of  4  and  3,  water  and  ice  poured  as  the  arrows 
point ;  that  during  the  period  of  2,  water  was  at  rest,  and  things 
fell  through  it ;  that  during  the  packing  of  1,  it  flowed  as  it 
now  does,  from  the  watershed  towards  the  sea. 

At  the  watershed,  near  Fort  Wayne,  some  hundreds  of 
miles  away,  a  similar  record  confirms  the  first.  A  section  of 
a  gravel-pit  shows — 

1.  Gravel  and  rolled  stones  ;  no  stratification  visible. 

2.  Numerous  beds  of  fine  sand,  horizontal. 

3.  Ditto,  with  occasional  small  rolled  stones,  horizontal. 

4.  A  series  of  beds  of  sand  and  gravel,  all  dipping  tmvards 
the  south-west,  in  all  twenty-four  feet  thick.     These  indicate  a 
stream  flowing  south-westward  over  this  watershed  of  North 
America. 

5.  A  bed  of  clay,  about  three  feet  thick,  containing  large, 
polished,  and  striated  boulders  of  rocks,  which  are  found  in 
situ  to  the  north,  beyond  the  great  lakes. 

6.  A  bed  of  fine  white  sand. 


314  DEPOSITION. 

The  translation  made  on  the  spot  is  given  above  (pp. 
245,  246) ;  the  language  was  learned  on  the  strand  described 
chap.  xxii. 

This  land  in  North  America  seems  to  be  an  ancient  sea- 
bottom.  Atlantic  currents  are  sorting  tropical  infusoria  and 
glacial  debris  off  Newfoundland ;  it  is  not  possible  to  get  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea  there  :  but  the  gravel-pit  at  Fort 
Wayne  may  explain  what  is  now  going  on  in  the  Atlantic,  if 
the  strand,  the  snow-drift,  and  the  glass-tank,  have  been  un- 
derstood so  far. 

If  sedimentary  rocks  were  formed  in  old  oceans,  this  lesson 
applies  to  them  all  At  Kreuznach,  near  the  Rhine,  is  a 
sandstone  quarry,  where  beds  are  of  different  colours,  and  their 
arrangement  is  very  well  seen.  The  section  is  like  No.  3  in 
the  woodcut,  p.  312.  But  beds  which  rest  on  each  other  dip 
opposite  ways,  and  record  that  water  ebbed  and  flowed,  or 
changed  its  course,  while  the  stone  was  silt  falling  through 
the  sea.  This  so-called  "false  bedding"  is  true  deposition, 
and  great  currents  may  have  packed  large  beds  on  the  same 
plan.  These  forms  abound  in  old  rocks. 

The  mechanics  of  deposition  may  be  learned  from  models. 
The  outward  form  and  internal  structure  of  sedimentary  rocks 
record  movements  in  fluids,  and  they  are  registering  thermo- 
meters within  a  certain  range. 

Eyriks  Jokull  (vol.  i.  p.  429),  and  other  large  mountains 
of  bedded  igneous  rock  in  Iceland,  appear  to  rest  upon  a  thin 
bed  of  sand  and  cinders.  Because  of  "  false  bedding"  in  this 
thin  layer,  it  was  packed  by  water  which  ebbed  and  flowed  ; 
if  so,  Iceland  probably  rose  from  the  sea.  Four  or  five  thou- 
sand feet  of  igneous  rock  are  spread  above  the  bed  of  tuff, 
which  is  near  the  level  of  the  lower  plain  in  the  woodcut,  and 
the  crust  has  been  broken  and  ground  into  mountains  and 


BEDDING — RAIN-MAKKS.  315 

deep  glens.  Lava-floods  have  poured  over  the  surface  out  of 
rifts.  But  the  fusing  point  of  a  frozen  lava  clinker  has  never 
been  reached  at  the  bed  of  tuff  since  the  clinkers  froze  and 
fell  there,  because  the  false  bedding  is  preserved,  and  because 
the  black  glossy  cinders  retain  the  shape  which  they  had 
when  the  white  ashes  were  packed  about  them.  The  form  of 
a  sedimentary  bed  proves  that  the  fusing  point  of  the  material 
has  not  been  reached  since  the  bed  was  packed  ;  and  the  rule 
holds  whether  the  bed  is  made  of  mud,  snow,  gravel,  or  Lau- 
rentian  gneiss ;  whether  it  was  packed  in  a  toy  on  shore  or 
in  the  deep  sea.  A  great  deal  may  be  learned  from  little 
things ;  much  may  be  fished  out  of  dirty  puddles  ;  but  every 
student  who  will  condescend  to  make  scientific  dirt-pies  on 
the  plan  here  indicated,  must  set  his  wits  to  work  out  con- 
trivances to  illustrate  his  own  special  study.  There  is  room 
enough  and  to  spare  in  the  field,  though  many  are  working  at 
geological  deposition  and  bedded  rocks.  Let  one  more  familiar 
example  of  learning  from  little  things  suffice. 

Eipple-marks,  wave-marks,  beaches,  and  bedding,  are 
marks  made  when  loose  materials  were  under  water  or  awash. 
Other  marks  can  only  be  made  upon  plastic  surfaces  in  air. 
These,  like  the  rest,  record  facts,  but  the  language  must  be 
learned  before  a  record  can  be  read,  and  the  easiest  way  of 
learning  a  language  is  to  try  to  speak  it  or  write  it. 

A  rain-mark  was  made  upon  a  plastic  surface  in  air,  be- 
cause half  an  inch  of  water  would  shelter  the  surface  from  the 
rain.  But  in  order  to  learn  the  meaning  of  ancient  rain-marks 
it  was  necessary  to  see  marks  newly  made — Sir  C.  Lyell  saw 
them  in  the  mud  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  It  is  very  easy  to 
imitate  nature  in  this  case  also. 

Every  shower  of  rain  makes  its  mark  on  still  water.  Each 
drop  makes  a  dimple  and  starts  a  radiating  system  of  circular 


316  DEPOSITION. 

waves,  which,  like  other  waves,  may  be  refracted,  reflected, 
and  focussed,  accelerated  or  retarded.  They  meet,  and  cross, 
and  jostle,  so  that  the  water-mirror  becomes  a  rippling  pool. 
But  when  the  shower  is  over  the  waves  cease  their  gambols, 
and  the  lake  is  a  mirror  again.  A  shower  may  fall  on  a 
plastic  surface — on  mud,  clay,  dry  dust,  snow,  or  any  other  such 
material — and  there  the  dimples  may  retain  the  shape  given  by 
the  falling  drop.  The  mark  is  a  tool-mark,  the  dint  is  made 
by  a  drop  lifted,  carried,  and  dropped  by  the  engine  which 
works  denudation  and  deposition  ;  and  the  tool-mark  may  be 
so  placed  as  to  record  very  ancient  work  done  by  the  same 
machine.  Eain-marks  endure  when  the  plastic  surface  is 
baked,  frozen,  or  otherwise  hardened. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  travel  far  in  order  to  learn  this  language. 
The  scrapings  of  the  streets  of  London  are  chiefly  powdered 
igneous  rocks,  ground  up  to  a  tough  mud  by  carriage  wheels, 
and  scraped  into  heaps  by  scavengers.  The  wet  sludge  forms 
a  surface  almost  as  smooth  as  that  of  a  lake,  and  it  sets  gra- 
dually as  the  water  evaporates.  After  a  summer  shower  this 
smooth  mud  is  often  dimpled  with  regular  cups,  and  each  of 
these  is  a  cast  of  a  drop  of  rain,  which  fell  there.  Each  is  a 
tool-mark,  and  a  record.  Road-scrapings  bake  in  the  sun, 
and  freeze  hard  in  winter,  and  the  mud  when  dry  may  be 
further  hardened  by  baking,  so  as  to  resemble  some  of  the  old 
rocks  upon  which  fossil  rain-marks  have  been  found.  It  is 
so  far  a  record.  But  if  the  material  is  fused  by  greater  heat, 
the  record  is  spoiled  and  lost.  In  the  summer  of  1862  a 
thunder-plump  made  a  very  beautiful  set  of  dimples  on 
smooth  mud  faces,  and  filled  the  pockets  of  cabmen  with  the 
silver  of  pedestrians,  who  feared  the  rain,  and  thought  the 
mud  a  nuisance.  One,  however,  who  came  from  a  rainy  land 
and  wears  old  clothes,  watched  the  shower  and  the  mud,  and 


BEDDING — EAIN-MARKS.  317 

went  home  to  try  whether  the  shower  could  not  be  set  to  work 
for  him. 

An  old  cigar-box  was  filled  with  wet  plaster-of-paris,  and 
when  the  plaster  was  beginning  to  set,  the  box  and  its  smooth 
white-faced  contents  were  turned  out  of  doors  and  watched, 
to  see  what  the  rain  would  do  to  the  plaster,  and  what  rain- 
marks  really  meant.  They  meant  that  the  surface  was  smooth, 
plastic,  and  above  water ;  the  shape,  size,  depth,  and  direction 
of  each  cup  recorded  the  shape  and  size  of  a  drop,  the  force 
with  which  it  fell,  the  direction  from  which  it  came  ;  the  slab 
recorded  the  number  of  drops  that  fell  within  the  area  of  a 
cigar-box  during  a  certain  time.  When  the  plaster  set  it  be- 
came a  register,  and  it  will  last  till  it  is  destroyed.  It  is  easy 
to  see  how  the  drops  fell,  to  determine  the  quarter  whence 
the  wind  blew,  and  the  force  of  it ;  and  similar  marks  found 
upon  old  rocks  of  any  age  record  similar  facts.  But  rain- 
marks  do  not  record  climate,  as  some  have  argued.  Hailstones 
bury  themselves  in  snow  and  cold  mud,  so  the  climate  may 
have  been  cold.  Drops  which  fall  from,  clouds  of  steam 
escaping  from  a  boiler ;  scalding  drops  which  fall  upon  hot 
sticky  mud,  beside  the  boiling  springs  at  Krabla  in  Iceland  ; 
summer  rain  or  winter  sleet ;  all  make  the  same  marks.  The 
climate  in  old  geological  times  may  have  been  very  different 
from  existing  climates,  though  rains  fell  and  winds  blew 
slanting  showers  down  upon  smooth  plastic  mud. 

Like  other  marks,  this  class  register  temperature.  The 
mud  was  not  frozen,  for  it  was  soft  when  the  mark  was  made : 
it  was  warmer  than  32° ;  it  was  colder  than  212° ;  it  did  not 
boil,  for  the  surface  was  smooth  and  wet.  The  fusing  point 
of  the  material  which  retains  the  mark  lias  not  been  reached 
since  the  mark  was  made.  Within  these  limits  a  rain-mark 
registers  temperature,  and  it  proves  that  the  whole  earth  was 


318 


DEPOSITION. 


not  covered  with  water  at  some  unknown  date.  Like  the 
island  in  the  glass  tank,  some  part  of  a  bed  of  silt  was  above 
water  when  the  rain  fell. 

To  get  at  past  climates  other  marks  are  used,  and  they 
form  a  separate  branch  of  study. 


FIG.  102.  FOSSILS. 

2.   Broken  from  the  limestone  wall  of  1.  From  a  "weathered"  limestone  sur- 

the  Mammoth  Cave,  Kentucky,  near  the  face  preserved  under  a  bed  of  yellow  clay 

"  River  Styx."  on  a  hill  ne:;r  St.  Louis,  on  the  Mississippi. 

These  specimens  illustrate  one  denuding  action  of  rain-water.  It  holds  carbonic  acid 
in  solution,  and  it  dissolves  insoluble  carbonate  of  lime  by  transforming  it  into  soluble 
bicarbonate.  When  a  limestone  I'ock-surface  has  thus  been  dissolved,  and  worn,  and 
washed  away,  insoluble  silicious  fossils  project.  These,  by  their  preservation,  prove  that 
a  rock-form  was  not  sculptured  by  mechanical  force  alone.  The  hills  about  St.  Louis  were 
not  sculptured  by  ice,  though  limestone  hills  near  Buffalo  were.  The  Mammoth  Cave,  and 
the  shapes  of  hills  about  it,  are  chiefly  chemical  work,  because  fossils  project  from  the 
sculptured  surface  of  the  stone. 


CHAPTEK   LI. 

DEPOSITION  7 — FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS. 

LIKE  other  shapes,  the  forms  of  plants  and  animals  are  ther- 
mometers. 

Because  an  organism  lived,  the  average  temperature  where 
it  lived  was,  during  its  life,  somewhere  between  32°  and  212°, 
freezing  and  boiling ;  that  is,  if  the  extinct  thing  was  made 
like  most  of  those  which  exist.  Even  lichens  will  not  grow 
in  extreme  cold,  and  vegetable  cells  burst  in  boiling  water ; 
an  animal  made  partly  of  albumen  and  water  is  frozen  in  ice, 
and  is  coagulated  and  cooked  when  a  submarine  volcano 
makes  the  sea  boil.  Living  things  can  resist  extreme  tempera- 
tures for  a  time ;  but  nothing  now  living  can  long  survive 
boiling  and  freezing.  Because  a  sea-plant  grew,  and  a  fish 
swam,  their  average  climate  was  probably  somewhere  between 
these  limits  ;  and  their  shapes  are  registering  thermometers 
so  far.  If  species  is  known,  climate  may  be  guessed  from  the 
haunts  and  habits  of  living  things  of  the  same  or  like  form. 
An  arctic  shell  means  cold  water,  a  palm-tree  warm  air,  and 
things  like  them  similar  climates.  But  organic  forms,  which 
are  unlike  living  things,  do  not  so  closely  record  tempera- 
tures. Sedimentary  beds,  with  water-marks,  rain-marks,  and 
fossils,  together  record  the  former  existence  of  land  under 
and  above  water ;  with  an  atmosphere  and  a  climate  fit  to  sup- 
port life.  Because  the  fossil  form  has  been  preserved,  a 


320  DEPOSITION. 

stone,  or  bed  of  stone,  has  not  been  fused  since  the  materials 
took  their  shape. 

Fossils  are  time-keepers  also. 

The  water-formation  exists  as  solid,  fluid,  and  gas ;  solid 
snow  and  ice,  fluid  water,  gaseous  steam  and  vapour. 

When  temperature  falls  to  a  certain  point,  a  crust  of  ice 
forms  and  floats  upon  fluid  water,  while  vapour  rises,  is  con- 
densed, crystallizes,  and  falls  as  snow.  If  it  falls  upon  plants 
and  animals  it  smothers  and  preserves  them,  as  silt  does,  and 
far  better.  If  wetted  and  frozen  again,  the  snow  becomes 
ice,  and  the  buried  plant  or  animal  freezes.  Till  this  forma- 
tion is  melted,  it  is  an  altered  crystalline  sedimentary  forma- 
tion containing  fossils.  The  famous  frozen  Siberian  mammoth 
was  so  well  preserved  in  frozen  gravel,  that  dogs  fed  upon  the 
flesh  when  the  ice  which  contained  it  thawed.  In  any  other 
sedimentary  bed  the  skeleton,  or  a  cast  of  some  part  of  the 
creature,  might  have  remained,  but  the  flesh  would  have 
yielded  to  natural  chemistry.  That  fossil  proved  that  tem- 
peratures less  than  32°  had  prevailed  at  the  place  from  the 
date  of  the  mammoth's  burial  in  ice.  It  was  an  old  forma- 
tion, because  mammoths  have  long  ceased  to  live.  English 
ice  now  melts  every  summer ;  Arctic  ice  does  not.  A  perch 
preserved  in  English  ice  records  the  date  of  his  death  within 
a  few  months,  because  of  the  known  climate,  and  implies  a 
late  formation,  because  his  race  exists.  We  know  that  the 
Arctic  ice  which  contains  an  extinct  mammoth,  is  older  ice 
than  English  ice  which  contains  a  perch.  One  is  less  than 
six  months  old,  the  other  far  older,  but  how  much  older  is 
not  recorded.  We  know  these  facts  from  observation.  If 
we  did  not,  the  fossils  alone  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  perch  ice  was  the  newest  water  formation,  because  perch 
exist  and  mammoths  do  not.  But  if  a  perch  were  found  in 


FOSSILS —ALTERED  ROCKS.  321 

ice  under  a  mammoth,  buried  in  snow,  these  relative  posi- 
tions would  prove  that  some  perch  lived  before  the  mammoth 
died,  and  that  the  lowest  bed  was  the  oldest  in  that  series, 
though  it  contained  fossils  of  existing  species.  Like  slates 
on  a  roof,  these  two  portions  of  past  time  overlap,  and  their 
extent  is  only  known  in  one  direction. 

Fossils. 

Living  Mammoth . 

Living  Perch Perch  now  alive. 

In  the  first  place,  relative  position  proves  the  relative  age 
of  the  fossil ;  and  when  that  has  been  ascertained,  the  form  of 
the  fossil  is  like  an  index-number  on  a  page.  The  uppermost 
layer  is  the  newest,  unless  the  series  capsized  :  because  snow 
and  sediment  both  fall.  When  two  human  graves  were  found 
above  each  other  under  the  foundation  of  an  old  church,  his- 
tory gave  a  date  and  position  older  relative  dates. 

Christian  church  wall .     date  known — A.D.          ? 

Human  grave  .     probably  near  the  time. 

Ancient    do. older,  but  uncertain. 

If  in  this  case  the  bones  of  buried  men  differed,  the  lowest 
had  the  type  of  the  oldest  race,  and  such  bones  thenceforth 
mark  ancient  graves.  The  buried  form  became  a  time-keeper, 
for  such  forms  lived  before  the  year  A.D.  ?,  when  the 
church  was  founded. 

Thus  out  of  form,  species,  and  superposition,  vague  geo- 
logical dates  are  constructed  with  fossils,  and  slowly  built  up 
into  a  skeleton-history  of  part  of  the  world's  crust.  The 
study  is  like  turning  over  the  leaves  of  an  old  saga,  in  which 
events  were  recorded  year  by  year.  Those  which  are  men- 

Y 


322  DEPOSITION. 

tioned.  in  the  uppermost  page  happened  after  those  which 
were  first  written  down ;  and  when  the  place  of  an  event  has 
been  learned,  it  marks  the  place  of  others  which  happened 
before  or  after  it.  Fossils  in  upper  beds  died  after  those 
which  are  buried  under  them,  and  the  lowest  human  grave 
was  first  filled. 

Position  gives  the  age  of  a  fossil,  and  then  the  fossil  alone 
gives  position.  A  stone  is  like  a  torn  page  which  records  a 
known  event.  If  written  by  a  man  who  was  at  the  battle  of 
Blenheim,  the  page  must  be  placed  below  the  Waterloo  page 
— for  Blenheim  soldiers  had  become  extinct  before  Waterloo  ; 
and  above  the  page  written  by  the  Icelander  who  described  the 
battle  of  Clontarf  as  a  recent  event.  But  the  fossil  record  is 
not  a  history,  it  is  but  an  index,  and  by  no  means  complete. 

Position  even  without  fossils  gives  a  relative  date  for  beds 
of  rock. 

A  bed  of  snow  resting  on  ice  on  a  pond  gives  three  dates. 
The  water  was  there  before  the  ice  formed,  and  the  snow  fell 
upon  the  ice — snow  is  the  latest  formation,  water  the  oldest 
of  these  three.  In  Iceland,  beds  of  silt  are  on  lava  in  lakes, 
ice  grows  on  the  lakes,  and  snow  falls  on  the  ice.  Of  these  five 
the  lava-crust  is  the  oldest,  and  still  older  fluid  lava  once  flowed 
under  the  frozen  lava-crust. 

There  is  a  regular  series  whose  position  depends  on  tem- 
perature and  specific  gravity ;  a  series  liable  to  disturbance, 
and  frequently  disturbed. 

COLD  AND  WEIGHT. 


1.  Water  as  vapour  in  the  air — condensing  and  falling. 

2.  Lava  and  ashes  in  the  air — falling. 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  323 

3.  Water  as  snow,  a  bed  of  sediment — at  rest. 

4.  Water  as  ice,  a  frozen  solid  crust — at  rest. 

5.  Water  as  cold  fluid  in  the  lake — at  rest. 

6.  Lava  as  silt,  a  bed  of  sediment — at  rest. 

7.  Lava  as  a  solid  frozen  crust — at  rest. 

8.  Lava  as  a  hot  fluid,  which  escapes  at  times. 

9.  Water  as  steam,  which  is  always  escaping,  and  struggling 

to  escape,  and  has  blown  up  the  lava-crust  in  many 
places.  0 

HEAT. 

The  stone  book  of  sedimentary  rocks,  with  fossil  pictures 
engraved  amongst  the  leaves,  has  been  rumpled  and  torn, 
pages  are  missing,  leaves  were  of  different  sizes  at  first,  whole 
volumes  are  yet  unread.  It  is  hard  to  read  the  record,  and 
harder  still  to  understand  it.  But  wherever  an  organic  form 
can  be  traced,  it  records  a  climate  fit  to  support  organic  life, 
and  proves  that  the  page,  though  it  may  be  torn  and  charred, 
has  not  been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  fossil  form  is  like  a  foot- 
print in  snow,  which  disappears  when  the  snow  melts,  though 
the  melted  snow  may  freeze  again.  It  is  like  a  wrinkle  upon 
the  lava-crust,  which  ceases  to  exist  when  the  lava  is  fused. 
But  these  organic  shapes  tell  more  than  tool-marks  of  engines, 
however  great.  They  tell  of  air  and  water,  and  their  move- 
ments ;  of  heat  which  kept  them  from  freezing  ;  of  cold  which 
kept  them  from  boiling  ;  of  gravitation  which  bound  them  to 
earth.  But  they  also  tell  of  life,  which  made  each  shape 
a  separate  reproductive  system,  "  whose  seed  is  in  itself  " — a 
system  wherein  heat  and  weight  play  their  parts,  but  are 
guided  and  governed  by  subtle  powers,  of  which  those  who 
live  by  them  here  on  earth  know  absolutely  nothing  at  all. 

As  a  bed  of  snow  is  altered  by  a  sufficient  heat ;   as  loose 


324  DEPOSITION. 

grains  of  lava-dust  may  be  consolidated  by  fusing  and  freezing 
— so  all  sediments  may  change  into  solids. 

At  the  Sevres  china  factory,  and  at  Minton's  works  in 
Staffordshire,  and  elsewhere,  certain  clays  are  mixed  with 
water  till  the  mixture  is  like  a  glacier-river ;  the  sediment  is 
washed,  allowed  to  settle,  and  after  a  time  sludge  becomes 
mud,  and  a  tough  paste.  It  is  then  moulded  and  patted, 
twisted  and  worked  into  all  manner  of  forms,  dried,  baked,  and 
finally  burned.  When  all  is  done,  the  sludge  has  become  a  hard 
flinty  brittle  substance,  with  a  form  which  tells  part  of  its 
history.  One  bit  was  made  on  a  wheel,  another  pressed  in  a 
mould ;  one  was  baked  hard,  another  burned  ;  a  third  too 
much  fired,  half-melted,  and  so  distorted  by  its  own  weight. 
If  the  miniature  geological  formation  above  described  were 
made  with  coloured  clays  and  sands,  dried,  baked,  and 
burned,  the  sludge  would  become  stone,  and  any  forms  im- 
pressed upon  the  surface,  casts  of  small  plants,  or  creatures 
that  lived  in  the  tank,  or  their  tracks,  or  stream-marks  made 
by  currents,  would  be  preserved  (chap.  1.) 

The  forms  of  sedimentary  rocks  indicate  certain  tempera- 
tures, an  order  of  succession,  and  vague  dates,  for  they  were 
deposited  one  upon  the  other  long  ago,  at  times  when  plants 
and  animals  could  live,  and  they  have  not  been  fused  since. 
But  there  is  a  wide  range  of  temperature  between  212°  and 
the  fusing  points  of  various  stones,  and  many  rocks  have 
been  baked  and  burned,  and  partially  fused,  as  china  and 
bricks  and  glass  are.  The  lower  the  rocks  are  in  the  geolo- 
gical series,  the  more  they  bear  marks  of  heat.  Therefore, 
according  to  position,  a  brick-kiln  or  furnace  heat  is  below, 
or  was  an  ancient  condition  of  the  upper  world. 

Beds  of  slush  do  not  turn  to  stone  without  some  active 
cause  ;  and  the  deeper  men  go  in  mines,  the  greater  is  the  heat 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  325 

of  the  earth.  When  a  volcano  bursts  the  crust,  earth-light 
shines  out,  and  rocks  melt  like  wax  in  the  fire.  It  is  only 
by  watching  human  works  that  we  can  hope  to  estimate  the 
effects  of  heat  upon  sedimentary  rocks ;  but  these  effects  may 
be  watched  at  furnaces. 

Snow  becomes  glacier-ice  by  a  combination  of  heat  and 
pressure ;  by  softening,  kneading,  and  hardening  ;  by  fusing 
and  freezing  again.  Below  32°. 

Clay  becomes  brick  by  kneading  and  baking.  Finer  clay 
becomes  china.  —  About  1100°. 

Sand  becomes  glass  by  fusion  with  various  other  sub- 
stances. .  _  About  1000°. 

Whinstone  was  made  into  a  black  glassy  mineral  at  Bir- 
mingham by  fusing  it.  The  difference  in  the  structure  of  the 
mineral  was  attributed  to  the  rate  of  cooling,  which  was  too 
rapid  for  crystallization. About  1000°. 

Obsidian  is  a  natural  black  glass,  formed  in  volcanic 
mountains.  It  seems  to  line  passages  in  lava  through  which 
hot  gases  have  escaped.  The  stone  is  something  like  a  lump 
of  sugar  which  has  been  partially  fused  in  a  candle ;  and 
cavities  in  lava  are  commonly  varnished  with  a  coat  of  some 
glassy  substance  of  like  kind.  .  ?  1000°. 

Jasper,  Hood-stone,  and  similar  glassy  minerals,  abound  in 
volcanic  countries,  and  in  old  igneous  rocks.  ? 

All  these  are  effects  of  heat. 

Limestone  of  the  coal-formation,  containing  fossils,  and 
other  limestones,  are  used  as  fluxes  in  smelting  iron.  The 
stone  melts  and  runs  as  lava  does.  It  is  often  run  into 
moulds,  and  when  it  has  time  to  cool  it  freezes  into  an  earthy 
mineral,  with  a  glassy  wrinkled  surface,  and  a  crystalline 
structure.  No  trace  of  a  fossil  remains  after  the  fusion,  and 
there  would  be  little  sign  of  fusion  if  the  surface  were  gone, 
and  the  slag  a  large  bed  of  stone  in  a  geological  series.  3300°. 


326  DEPOSITION. 

Lavas  are  like  slags  ;  whinstones  are  like  lavas. 

All  these  are  products  of  heat,  of  fusion  and  freezing.* 

The  whinstone  may  have  been  sedimentary  rock  because 
it  is  like  lava,  and  lava  like  slag,  which  was  limestone,  and 
was  perhaps  a  coral  reef,  or  a  bed  of  shells  and  silt  at  the 
bottom  of  an  ancient  sea. 

Fire-clay  will  not  readily  yield  to  heat ;  it  is  easily  baked, 
but  very  hard  to  fuse.  One  of  the  Lanarkshire  iron-furnaces 
was  lined  with  fire-clay  as  usual,  and  the  first  fire  was  lit 
with  faggots,  amongst  which  were  branches  of  hazel,  and 
furze.  The  furnace  worked  for  many  years  with  the  hot- 
blast  ;  thousands  of  tons  of  iron  and  slag  were  melted  in  it  ; 
but  at  last  the  walls  grew  shaky,  and  it  was  "  blown  out"  to  be 
mended  and  re-made.  In  breaking  out  the  hearth  the  work- 
men found  the  shape  of  a  forked  branch,  and  the  overseer 
sent  the  curiosity  to  be  examined  in  Glasgow.  The  learned 
could  make  nothing  of  it.  It  looked  like  a  bit  of  forked  stick, 
but  it  was  heavy ;  it  was  not  wood,  but  some  mineral,  so  the 
chemist  wrote  back  to  say  that  he  could  make  nothing  of  the 
specimen  sent.  If  geologists  would  take  a  hint  from  this 
story,  and  repeat  such  experiments,  they  might  explain  the 
mystery  of  fossils  altered  in  old  sedimentary  rocks.  It  would 
cost  nothing  to  line  a  furnace  with  bricks,  in  which  plants 
and  shells,  fish  and  leaves,  had  been  packed ;  the  heat  of  the 
furnace  is  3300°,  or  more,  and  the  stones  would  be  touch- 
stones for  temperature  recorded  in  altered  rocks. 

If  there  has  been  a  constant  succession  of  life,  from  the 
earliest  known  fossil  species  down  to  the  present  day,  the  heat 
which  baked  rocks  has  never  been  the  general  climate  of  the 
upper  world,  since  Laurentian  times  at  least.  But  many 

*  These  and  many  other  temperatures  are  quoted  from  a  Thermometrical 
Table  compiled  by  Dr.  A.  S.  Taylor.  London,  1845  :  T.  and  E.  Willats,  98 
Cheapside. 


FOSSILS — ALTERED   ROCKS.  327 

sedimentary  beds  have  been  baked  since  then,  and  the  lowest 
are  most  altered.  The  heat  certainly  was  internal  heat,  and 
the  condition  of  beds  which  were  buried  and  have  been  raised 
to  the  surface  again  would  give  the  temperature  of  the  lower 
regions,  if  a  pyrometer  scale  were  made  with  which  to  sound 
the  earth's  sedimentary  crust. 

Beds  low  in  the  series  indicate  internal  heat,  wherever 
these  beds  are  found.  Snow  indicates  external  cold  at  all 
latitudes  and  longtitudes.  Temperature,  as  recorded  by  sedi- 
mentary rocks,  appears  to  be  arranged  in  shells  about  a  centre 
— heat  within  and  cold  without. 

It  has  been  argued  that  "  metamorphism"  is  not  neces- 
sarily a  result  of  heat,  because  in  some  cases  the  central  bed 
of  a  series  of  three  has  been  altered,  while  the  other  two 
retain  their  characteristics. 

To  use  a  homely  illustration,  the  same  amount  of  heat 
would  toast  bread  and  metamorphose  the  ham  of  a  sand- 
wich into  lard.  When  a  hot  sun  shines  on  the  delta  of  an 
Icelandic  river  in  spring  it  warms  a  series  of  beds,  which 
alternate,  and  are  variously  altered  by  the  same  temperature. 
The  foundation  is  some  igneous  rock,  which  was  fused  at 
some  time ;  on  that  solid  is  a  pile  of  loose  ashes  and  dust, 
and  lava-mud,  sorted  by  the  river.  In  winter  this  series  is 
covered  with  ice,  on  which  rests  a  layer  of  ripple-marked 
stratified  mud.  Over  this,  water  has  flowed,  and  frozen,  and 
packed  more  silt ;  and  so  the  upper  beds  alternate. 

Cfc  Solar  heat.  1.  Snow. 

50°.  July  Isotherm.  2.  Ice. 

36°.  Annual  ditto.  3.  Water. 

32°.  January  ditto.  4.  Mud. 

32°.  Lava  under  ice.  5.  Ice. 

3300°.  Lava  melts.  6.  Mud. 

%%  Volcanic  heat.  7.  Ice. 

8.  Mud. 


328  DEPOSITION. 

When  this  series  is  melted  by  the  sun  in  spring,  the  ice 
fuses  and  the  mud  remains.  It  is  abominable  ground  to 
ride  over,  for  hollows  cave  in  where  the  fused  ice  has  left  a 
roof  of  sand.  In  the  mountains  it  is  common  to  find  the 
series — 

Snow.    "| 

Ashes. 

Below  freezing, 
Snow. 

Ashes. 
Snow.     ) 

When  the  heat  is  sufficient,  the  snow  is  altered  and  "  meta- 
morphosed "  into  glacier-ice,  but  the  ashes  remain  unaltered. 
If  a  series  be  made  of 

Fireclay  ;  \       3300", 

Limestone,  Ironstone,  and  Fluxes  ;  >  white  heat. 
Fireclay,  O 

and  heated  till  the  slag  runs,  all  traces  of  life  will  be 
obliterated  in  the  central  bed,  while  the  other  two  may  con- 
tain altered  fossils,  like  the  mysterious  forked  curiosity  found 
in  the  furnace  in  Lanarkshire.  So  a  bed  of  impure  limestone 
between  two  beds  of  slate  may  be  metamorphosed  into  crys- 
talline marble,  by  a  heat  sufficient  to  fuse  limestone  and  slag, 
but  only  sufficient  to  bake  ripple-marked  clay  into  hard 
slate. 

So  also  a  bed  of  sandstone,  with  alkaline  plants,  rust,  and 
lime  imbedded  in  it,  might  be  partially  fused  into  coloured 
quartz  ;  while  neighbouring  saudbeds,  without  the  alkali, 
resisted  the  heat  and  hardened  without  fusing.  At  1000° 
flint-glass  melts. 

In  running  iron  and  slag  from  furnaces,  bits  of  wood,  fire- 
clay, brick,  sandstone,  and  other  such  materials,  often  get 
entangled  in  the  burning  stream.  They  are  variously  altered 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  329 

by  a  heat  of  about  3300°  F.,  but  all  of  them  can  be  identified, 
though  enclosed  in  iron,  which  flowed  over  and  round  about 
them.  In  all  these  cases  the  structure  depends  upon  tempera- 
ture ;  and  it  seems  to  follow  that  a  bed  of  silt  may  dry  up, 
and  so  remain  ;  or  it  may  be  sun-dried  ;  or  baked,  or  burned, 
or  fused,  by  the  heat  of  the  earth. 

The  way  to  do  a  thing  may  be  learned  by  seeing  it  done  ; 
the  way  in  which  a  thing  was  made  may  be  surmised  by 
comparing  finished  works.  An  altered  rock  may  be  com- 
pared with  a  brick,  or  slag,  and  if  they  agree  in  form  and 
composition,  it  is  evidence  that  the  rock,  like  the  other  sub- 
stance, was  altered  by  heat. 

If  sedimentary  rocks  have  sunk  past  the  brick-kiln  to  the 
smelting-house  region  below,  crusts  of  lava  which  welled  up 
and  froze  in  Iceland,  and  which  now  furnish  materials  for 
silt-beds  in  deltas  and  in  the  sea,  may  once  have  been  sedi- 
mentary fossiliferous  beds,  which,  like  some  ironstones  and 
fluxes,  were  silt,  and  now  are  metal  and  slag,  because  of  heat. 

So  far,  theory  and  models,  and  the  effects  of  heat  in 
manufacturing  processes  agree.  Geological  facts  confirm  their 
evidence. 

Scandinavia,  Iceland,  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Newfound- 
land, are  slowly  rising  or  falling — that  is  to  say,  in  these 
regions  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth  is  swelling  or  sinking ;  re- 
ceding from  the  centre,  or  approaching  it.  But  beds  of  snow 
and  fields  of  ice,  which  form  the  upper  layers  of  the  solid  crust, 
are  not  split,  torn,  dislocated,  or  smelted,  by  this  movement. 
Parts  of  Europe  and  North  America  have  risen  from  the  sea, 
and  yet  the  layers  of  soil  and  sediment  next  below  the  winter 
snow  continue  to  be  soil,  sand,  clay,  gravel,  boulder-clays, 
and  loose  materials,  packed  as  they  were  at  first.  These  beds 
have  not  been  much  disturbed,  or  altered  from  below.  The 


330  DEPOSITION. 

work  of  geologists  who  have  learned  the  alphabet  of  fossils 
has  been  mapped  ;  and  a  traveller  can  now  identify  the 
uppermost  layer  of  the  country  on  which  he  stands  by  turn- 
ing to  a  book.  He  rnay  find  out  new  facts  for  himself,  but 
the  document  has  been  made  out  so  far  that  the  outline  of 
the  story  told  by  sedimentary  fossiliferous  beds  can  be  learned 
from  a  translation.  There  has  been  a  succession  of  formations 
which  rest  upon  each  other,  each  a  ruin  of  older  rocks  ;  and 
during  that  period  the  outer  world  was  inhabited.  There  has 
been  a  succession  of  life  ;  but  when  it  began,  and  whether  it 
was  continuous  or  interrupted,  remains  to  be  proved. 

In  passing  from  formation  to  formation,  the  most  super- 
ficial observer  must  remark  a  striking  difference  in  the  shape 
and  structure  of  the  rocks  themselves.  In  North  America 
newer  rocks  are  to  the  south,  the  older  to  the  north  ;  and  the 
contrast  is  very  striking.  In  regions  where  the  uppermost 
beds  are  of  late  age,  the  country  is  flat,  and  beds  are  laid 
horizontally,  or  dip  very  little.  They  are  like  beds  of  snow 
and  drift  which  cover  them,  little  disturbed.  The  same  thing 
is  true  of  beds  of  like  age  elsewhere.  There  are  many  cases 
of  disturbance  recorded  in  such  rocks  ;  the  soil  itself  has  been 
disturbed  by  earthquakes  in  Italy  and  in  Iceland,  and  the 
ground  is  there  riven  and  disturbed.  Even  snow-beds  and 
ice  have  been  shaken  and  melted  from  below  in  Iceland  and 
Sicily ;  but,  generally  speaking,  beds  lately  deposited  have 
been  little  disturbed  and  altered.  But  as  the  American 
traveller  works  northwards,  or  the  English  geologist  works 
westward,  the  case  alters.  In  old  strata  every  form  tells  of 
violent  disturbance,  every  stone  of  great  heat.  There  are 
many  sedimentary  rocks  in  which  no  fossils  have  yet  been 
found,  many  beds  in  old  fossil-bearing  strata  which  contain 
no  trace  of  life.  One  question  left  for  argument  is,  whether 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  331 

these  were  deposited  in  cold  water  or  in  water  too  hot  to 
support  life  ? 

It  is  plain,  that  generally  the  oldest  known  fossiliferous 
rocks  have  been  much  shattered  and  altered,  and  that  no  con- 
vulsion within  human  experience  has  equalled  the  amount 
of  force  to  which  these  altered  beds  have  yielded. 

The  geological  sections  of  Wales  are  masterpieces  of  art ; 
they  show  a  series  of  folds  and  curves  upon  a  vast  scale.  The 
rocks  themselves  record  this  part  of  their  history  in  characters 
which  a  child  can  read,  now  that  this  alphabet  is  taught  in 
schools.  They  retain  their  sedimentary  structure,  but  many 
of  them  are  crumpled,  as  snow-beds  are  when  they  slide  from 
a  house. 

In  the  Isle  of  Man,  at  Brada  Head,  a  cliff  300  feet  high  is 
marked  by  coloured  bands,  which  sweep  and  bend,  curve  and 
wave,  like  round  text  with  the  flourishing  of  a  writing-master's 
pen.  The  shapes  of  the  hills  have  nothing  to  do  with  this 
internal  structure  ;  their  forms  are  tool-marks  of  denudation. 
No  possible  combination  of  cold  streams  ever  packed  silt  into 
such  a  form  ;  no  loose  silt  or  hard  rock  could  possibly  bend 
into  these  curves  without  scattering  or  breaking  at  the  bends. 
The  rock  must  have  been  packed  in  flat  or  sloping  layers  at 
first  ;  it  is  now  hard  and  brittle  ;  but  between  whiles  it  has 
been  plastic,  and  then  it  was  kneaded  and  welded  like  scrap- 
iron  in  a  press.  No  twisted  gun-barrel  could  record  the  fact 
with  more  clearness.  Were  these  plates  so  welded  when  they 
were  wet  or  when  they  were  hot  ?  The  structure  answers 
the  question.  In  this  cliff  are  dykes  of  igneous  rock,  which 
fill  rifts,  and  the  pattern  on  opposite  sides  does  not  fit.  Even 
in  beach  stones  and  pebbles  this  structure  is  seen,  and  the 
rock  looks  like  stone  which  has  been  burned  at  a  furnace. 

Waving  white  lines  of  quartz  meander  about  in  many  a 


332  DEPOSITION. 

tall  cliff  on  the  west  of  Scotland  ;  they  are  followed  in  all 
their  windings  by  lines  and  bands  of  other  colours,  and  these 
are  now  edges  of  crumpled  sheets  of  hard  brittle  stone.  They, 
too,  must  have  been  soft  when  they  were  folded  like  coloured 
glass  in  the  workshop.  In  Ross-shire,  in  the  forest  of  Gair- 
loch,  some  beds  of  quartz  rock  of  similar  structure  contain 
fossils,  which  only  appear  when  the  rock  is  weathered.  So 
quartz  rock  in  all  probability  was  a  sandbank,  though  it  is 
now  like  half-fused  impure  distorted  flint-glass,  which  melts 
at  1000°. 

Districts  where  these  old  crystalline  beds  occur  show  other 
signs  of  great  disturbance  and  great  heat.  Large  dykes  and 
upthrows  of  granite,  trap,  basalt,  and  other  igneous  rocks ; 
veins,  faults,  and  fissures ;  traverse  whole  districts.  Measured 
along  their  edges,  beds  which  were  deposited  upon  each  other 
"  conformably  and  unconformably  "  are  of  great  thickness ;  and 
yet,  from  "  Fundamental  gneiss  to  oolite,"  from  "  the  Minch  to 
Brora,"  from  "  Skye  to  the  Cheviot  Hills,"  the  whole  patch  of 
the  earth's  crust  which  denuding  engines  hewed  into  the 
shape  of  Scotland,  was  long  ago  moulded  and  kneaded  like 
plates  of  clay  in  the  potter's  hand.*  No  recurrence  of  earth- 
quakes like  those  which  have  been  observed  by  men,  could 
so  crush  and  alter  such  thick  beds  of  sediment  over  such 
areas. 

In  Dana's  Geology  the  Appalachian  chain  is  well  and 
clearly  described.  The  range  includes  a  series  of  long  wrinkles 
and  folds,  which  include  rocks  of  the  coal-formation.  In 
travelling  from  Pittsburg  to  Harrisburg,  these  folds  are  seen 
in  cuttings  by  the  wayside.  Beds  dipping  in  one  direction 
are  passed  by  the  train  ;  sandstones,  grits,  and  coloured  beds 

*  Geological  Map  of  Scotland.     By  Sir  R.   I.  Murchison  and  Archibald 
Geikie.     1861. 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  333 

succeed  each  other  in  rapid  succession,  till  the  anteclinal  or 
synclinal  axis  is  passed. 

The  train  runs  through  one  side  of  the  bend,  fl  or  (J,  and 
thence  the  beds  dip  the  other  way.  Coloured  bands,  grits, 
sandstones,  succeed  each  other  in  the  reverse  order,  till  the 
next  fold  in  the  old  earth's  wrinkled  face  brings  back  the 
old  series  of  sandstones,  grits,  coloured  bands.  The  roadside 
is  like  a  picture  made  by  the  Geological  Survey  ;  the  journey 
is  a  day's  lesson  in  contorted  rocks.  Yet  the  shape  even  of 
this  great  mountain-chain  is  not  wholly  due  to  this  wrinkling 
process.  Valleys  are  not  in  the  hollow  curves  of  the  strata 
U  ;  neither  are  the  hills  on  the  top  of  the  folds  0-  One  great 
fault,  according  to  American  geologists,  left  a  wall  as  high  as 
the  Hindoo  Koosh,  20,000  feet  at  least ;  for  on  one  side  of  a 
crack,  over  which  a  man  can  stride,  the  highest  of  upper 
Silurian  beds  faces  the  lowest  of  lower  Silurian.  But  the 
upper  Silurian  wall  of  the  raised  side  of  this  vast  crack  was 
"  denuded,"  hewn  away,  and  the  place  where  it  rose  has  been 
planed  smooth,  so  that  masses  of  grit,  caught  in  the  chink 
while  it  was  open,  are  cut  through  by  the  surface. 

Such  changes  mean  some  great  force,  and  the  lowest  rocks 
mean  great  heat,  according  to  the  evidence  of  burnt  stones. 

The  rocks  of  Newfoundland  are  greatly  folded  and  frac- 
tured. An  able  geologist  is  now  engaged  upon  a  survey  there. 
When  his  labours  are  published,  we  shall  know  something  of 
their  relative  age.  They  include  sandstones,  grits,  slates,  and 
numerous  beds  of  granite,  but  all  these  are  not  metamor- 
phosed. 

The  Laurentian  rocks  of  Labrador  were  supposed  to 
be  "  azoic;"  they  are  low  in  the  series,  if  not  the  lowest  beds 
known,  and  they  resemble  the  old  rocks  on  the  Scotch  coast. 
From  Belleisle  to  Cape  Harrison,  the  land  appears  to  be  a 


334  DEPOSITION. 

maze  of  granite  dykes  and  altered  rocks.  The  country  looks 
as  if  a  sedimentary  crust  had  been  smashed  up,  half-fused 
in  hot  stone,  and  frozen  again. 

The  only  modern  natural  formation  which  bears  any  re- 
semblance to  this  old  Laurentian  gneiss,  is  the  water-crust 
on  the  sea.  Part  of  it  is  snow,  part  flat  ice ;  but  where  a 
pressure  sufficient  to  smash  the  crust  has  been  exerted,  the 
fluid  water  has  risen  through  the  faults,  and  the  whole  is 
cemented  together  by  frozen  water.  It  is  a  crust  of  sedi- 
mentary snow  and  altered  snow,  now  forming;  it  is  broken 
up  and  disturbed  ;  it  has  faults,  upthrows  and  downthrows, 
ground  edges  and  slickensides,  angular  conglomerates  of 
cemented  chips,  veins  and  dykes  of  ice.  But  underneath 
this  old  ice-crust  is  a  fluid  sea,  and  above  it  are  new-fallen 
beds  of  snow,  which  rise  and  fall  with  the  bending  crust,  when 
the  tide  flows  and  ebbs.  The  problem  is — Did  the  shell  of 
temperature  which  makes  water  boil  coincide  with  the  for- 
mation of  any  layer  of  sediment  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  ?  and 
if  so,  at  what  temperature  did  life  begin  in  Laurentian  or 
lower  beds  ?  Since  they  were  first  made,  these  old  rocks 
have  been  altered  by  a  heat  incompatible  with  the  life  of 
anything  which  now  lives  on  this  world. 

We  have  now  reached  the  period  of  a  water-formation.  A 
solid  crust  is  formed  about  the  poles,  and  is  forming  every- 
where ;  and  if  the  earth  is  cooling,  the  ice-crust  will  reach  the 
equator,  and  descend  from  the  air  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
The  solid  is  forming  upon  a  fluid  base,  and  now  is  the  period 
of  rapid  action  and  violent  disturbance  in  the  water-forma- 
tion, which  hardens  at  32°  or  some  degrees  lower,  at  a  certain 
distance  from  the  earth's  centre.  Under  the  ice-formation 
water  still  boils  in  Iceland  at  some  point  nearer  to  the  centre. 
If  the  whole  earth  is  cooling,  the  point  of  ebullition  may 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  335 

have  been  further  from  the  centre  and  nearer  to  the  surface 
in  Laurentian  times. 

When  temperature  falls,  movements  in  the  water-crust 
diminish.  There  are  fewer  ice-quakings  and  sea-eruptions 
when  the  arctic  winter  sets  in.  When  the  ice  sets  the  crust 
rests,  and  the  slow  deposition  of  snow  is  the  only  apparent 
work  in  progress.  But  there  is  fluid  beneath,  and  the  crust 
sways,  and  cracks,  and  groans,  to  prove  that  water  may  still 
break  the  prison  which  holds  it.  The  water-formation  is 
like  the  rock-formation  even  in  this  ;  it  has  a  fauna  and 
flora  of  its  own.  Minute  vegetation  reddens  snow,  birds 
and  beasts  walk  on  floes,  fish  and  sea-weeds  flourish  under 
them.  Esquimaux  hunt  and  fish  on  the  crust  of  the  sea, 
and  seldom  tread  on  real  earth  or  stone.  If  the  world  is 
cooling,  and  cools  a  little  more,  the  whole  sea  will  be  like  the 
arctic  regions.  If  some  glacialists  are  right,  the  whole  earth 
was  in  a  like  condition  during  a  glacial  period.  Snow  and 
vegetation  already  begun  may  spread ;  animals  may  change,  and 
adapt  themselves  to  new  conditions ;  Esquimaux  geologists,  if 
any  survive,  may  be  driven  to  speculate  on  the  comparative 
age  of  snow-drifts  and  altered  glacier-ice.  They  may  recognise 
certain  ancient  drifts  by  works  of  art  contained  in  them  : 
the  new  white  snow-stone,  by  frozen  seals  and  extinct  brown 
bears  ;  the  old  blue  snow-stone  deposits,  by  fossil  whales, 
sharks,  lobsters,  fish,  and  other  strange  marine  monsters  ;  the 
lowest  altered  solid  blue  ice-beds,  by  mammoths,  seaweeds, 
shells  ;  the  lowest  beds  of  all,  by  conglomerates  of  different 
chemical  composition  from  any  water-bed  known.  Questions 
may  yet  arise  as  to  altered  sedimentary  highly-crystallized 
snow-beds,  passing  into  compact  blue  ice  near  ice-dykes  : — 
whether  the  beds  were  altered  by  pressure,  or  by  a  heat 
almost  sufficient  to  fuse  snow-crystals  and  fossil  flesh,  or  by 


33C  DEPOSITION. 

some  other  unexplained  natural  power,  like  the  northern 
lights  ?  The  ignorant  may  hold,  with  the  Esquimaux  high- 
landers  found  by  Boss,  that  the  whole  world  is  snow  and  ice, 
and  that  it  was  so  created.  Keen  arguments  may  arise 
amongst  the  better  informed  as  to  the  origin  of  upthrows  of 
igneous  ice — whether  the  matter  rose  plastic  or  fluid,  through 
a  crack,  or  a  hole  ;  and  if  it  rose  at  all,  why,  and  whence — 
from  large  or  small  lakes  of  fluid  ice  in  the  ice-crust,  or  from 
a  fluid  water-core  which  reached  to  the  earth's  centre  ?  It 
may  be  argued  that,  because  the  coldest  air  is  also  the  heaviest, 
there  can  be  no  fluid  water  under  colder  ice,  for  the  coldest 
water  would  be  sure  to  sink  and  freeze  first  at  the  earth's 
centre.  The  argument  could  be  settled  by  experiment ;  but 
there  will  be  a  double  crust  under  the  disputants — an  upper 
crust  frozen  at  32°,-  or  below  zero,  resting  upon  a  rock-crust 
which  froze  at  3000°,  or  some  other  temperature,  when 
the  world  was  younger  and  warmer,  before  old  age  had  cooled 
its  hot  blood.  And  under  these  two  crusts  there  may  still 
be  fluid  water,  and  fluid  lava  at  deeper  depths,  if  there  be 
such  a  thing  as  internal  central  heat  diminishing  by  radia- 
tion into  space.  We,  who  tread  upon  the  upper  sedimentary 
beds  of  the  rock-crust,  wade  amongst  the  snow  of  the  water- 
formation,  and  skate  on  the  winter's  ice,  find  more  heat  when 
we  burrow  downwards.  We  see  that  melted  rocks  well  up 
from  below  in  all  latitudes  and  longitudes  ;  and  when  they 
cool  sufficiently,  they  too  form  a  surface-crust.  Surely  it  is 
reasonable  to.  believe  that  we,  and  the  beds  beneath  our  feet, 
rest  upon  a  crust  which  froze  upon  a  fluid,  and  which  grows 
inwards,  as  ice  does  on  a  pond. 

There  may  be  many  such  crusts,  many  fluids,  and  many 
imprisoned  gases  underneath  ;  but  the  greatest  heat  must  be 
in  the  centre,  and  the  last  fluid  drop  there,  if  there  be  any 


FOSSILS — ALTERED  ROCKS.  337 

truth  in  experiment.  In  every  material  which  is  melted  and 
cooled,  fused  and  frozen,  in  arts  and  manufactures,  the  crust 
forms  outside  about  the  warmer  fluid.  Water  so  freezes  in  a 
spherical  bottle.  A  drop  of  tallow  sets  on  the  outside,  and  the 
fluid  interior  can  be  squeezed  through  the  crust  when  it  is 
formed.  Wax  so  freezes  in  a  mould,  the  outside  crystallizes 
first,  and  the  inside  is  often  poured  out  to  show  the  crystals. 
Slag  cools  on  the  same  plan.  So  do  metals — solder  tin, 
bismuth,  lead,  silver,  copper,  iron,  gold,  platinum,  irridium. 
So  does  lava.  Because  all  these,  and  many  more,  cool  on  this 
same  plan,  it  is  probable  that  the  world,  whose  shattered 
crust  contains  materials  which  are  fused  and  frozen  in  the 
arts,  cooled  outside  at  first,  if  it  ever  was  fused,  and  so  pre- 
pared a  foundation  on  which  denuding  engines  built  up  chips 
and  sedimentary  rocks,  to  be  the  tombs  of  plants,  animals, 
and  men. 

At  a  certain  comfortable  club,  where  travellers  and  their 
guests  dine,  a  luxurious  contrivance  is  placed  on  a  table  at 
6  P.  M.  A  large  double  dish  of  block  tin,  filled  with  hot 
water,  is  the  base  prepared  for  good  things  which  appear  and 
disappear  later  in  the  evening.  While  quietly  reading  the 
bill  of  fare,  this  engine  is  apt  to  startle  strangers,  for  it  stirs 
the  silence  of  the  half-lighted  room,  like  a  gong,  with  a  bang. 
The  upper  crust  of  the  hollow  dish  may  be  seen  to  undergo 
sudden  convulsions.  It  jerks  up  at  one  spot,  and  when  that 
jerk  is  expended,  down  goes  the  tin  plain  for  another  spring. 
Loose  crumbs  jump,  and  gravy  is  agitated  by  earthquakes, 
while  hot  springs  hiss  and  sputter  through  safety  valves. 
A  traveller  in  search  of  causes  finds  red-hot  iron  under  the 
double  dish,  and  if  he  seeks  further,  he  finds  that  the  store  of 
heat  was  taken  from  the  kitchen  fire.  But  where  did  that 
heat  come  from?  A  book  in  the  library  tells  how  an  engineer 

VOL.  IT.  z 


338 


DEPOSITION. 


and  a  philosopher,  whirling  along  a  railway,  settled  the  ques- 
tion. They  held  that  the  heat  of  burning  coals  was  solar 
heat  stored  up  in  plants  during  the  coal-formation  :  mayhap 
it  was  taken  from  another  store.  As  the  heater  cools  the 
action  decreases.  There  are  frequent  earthquakes  before 
dinner ;  only  a  few  bangs  after  it,  to  rouse  the  sleepers. 
Mayhap  the  February  eruption  of  Etna,  the  English  earth- 
quakes of  1864,  the  sea-waves  off  Newfoundland,  and  such- 
like disturbances  and  upheavals  all  over  the  world,  are 
caused  by  an  old  store  of  terrestrial  heat  and  light  now 
hidden  beneath  all  sedimentary  rocks  in  the  world. 


Weight. 


FIG.  103.  An  ounce  of  silver,  prepared  at  Newcastle,  December  16,  1863.  The  crust 
reil-hot,  and  newly  frozen ;  the  interior,  fluid,  partly  gaseous,  and  white-hot ;  the  mass 
cooling  rapidly  in  cold  air.  Real  size.  See  pp.  350,  352,  358. 

The  arrows  are  intended  to  show  the  directions  in  which  two  forces  acted  on  shining 
hot  projectiles  and  luminous  sparks  thrown  off  by  the  metal,  while  thus  cooling  by  radiation 
from  within  outwards. 


CHAPTEE   LIT. 
UPHEAVAL  I. 

DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION. 

IN  the  last  chapters  sedimentary  geology,  palaeontology,  and  a 
whole  series  of  rocks,  were  bored  through  in  search  of  light. 
It  would  ill  become  one  who  knows  so  little  of  these  sciences 
to  say  more  about  them.  Whether  Laurentian  gneiss  be  the 
lowest  in  the  series  or  not,  it  is  low  enough  to  prove  that 
great  heat  has  worked  with  great  force  beneath  sedimentary 
beds  which  underlie  great  tracts  of  the  earth's  surface.  If  it 
were  possible  to  get  lower,  nobody  could  live  in  the  tempera- 
tures which  fused  these  rocks.  But  thoughts  may  go  there 
safely,  if  they  can  find  conveyance  ;  and  the  first  step  in  such 
a  journey  is  to  seek  a  vehicle  for  thought. 

When  snow  has  fallen  on  a  glass  roof  it  is  possible  to 
stand  under  it  and  watch  the  snow  melt.  Warm  breath  does 
not  melt  glass,  but  it  warms  the  roof,  and  the  lowest  bed  of 
snow  is  fused.  It  is  possible  to  feel  heat  flowing  away 
from  the  hand  up  through  the  glass,  and  to  see  the  effect  of 
it  on  the  snow  above.  A  higher  temperature  would  do  as 
much  for  sedimentary  rocks.  A  lamp  placed  under  the  glass 
cracks  it,  and  melted  snow  or  rain  drips  through :  a  greater 
heat  would  do  as  much  for  an  igneous  crust,  if  there  be  one 
beneath  the  Laurentian  gneiss.  In  travelling  from  London  to 
Cornwall,  the  edges  of  a  geological  series  are  passed  down- 


340  UPHEAVAL. 

wards.  Arrived  at  the  lowest  attainable  bed  at  the  surface 
in  that  direction,  rocks  are  found  to  be  broken  as  the 
glass  was.  In  mines,  some  cracks  are  seen  to  be  filled  with 
various  metals.  According  to  one  school,  lodes  were  deposited 
from  solution,  and  experiments  made  with  solutions  have 
proved  that  various  metals  may  be  deposited  in  chinks  by 
passing  currents  of  electricity  through  a  model.  Currents  of 
electricity  do  pass  through  the  earth's  crust,  and  the  bearings 
of  metallic  veins  seem  to  correspond  to  magnetic  currents. 
So  far  experiment  confirms  a  theory  which  savours  of  the  old 
battle  between  Neptunists  and  Plutonists.  But  in  volcanic 
countries  sublimed  metals  are  deposited  in  chinks  ;  electricity 
may  act  on  metals  in  the  state  of  vapour  as  it  does  on  solu- 
tions. Experiments  are  wanting  in  this  direction  ;  but  metals 
are  found  only  in  small  quantities  in  solution  at  the  sur- 
face now.  Other  materials — dykes  and  upthrows  of  igneous 
rock — fill  larger  rifts  and  holes  in  Cornish  rocks  :  these  rose 
hot  from  below,  but  Neptunists  once  believed  them  to  be 
precipitates.  In  Scotland  and  in  Labrador  such  igneous  rocks 
form  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  whole  visible  crust. 
Heavy  metals,  which  fuse  and  sublime  at  very  high  tempera- 
tures, may  exist  in  larger  quantities  in  deeper  layers,  because 
they  sink  deep  in  fluid  slag;  and  because  these  low  rocks 
were  melted. 

In  Lapland,  at  Gellivari,  a  vein  of  crystalline  magnetic 
ironstone  is  seven  miles  long,  and  about  a  mile  broad  at  the 
outcrop.  At  Rutivari,  also  in  Lapland,  is  another  large  mass 
in  a  wide  glen  ;  a  considerable  hill  is  there  made  of  magnetic 
ironstone.  At  Danemora,  in  Sweden,  a  similar  mass  of  iron  is 
quarried.  At  Fahlun,  the  copper-mine  is  a  vast  pit,  like  the 
crater  of  a  volcano.  About  Lake  Superior,  in  North  America, 
deposits  of  iron  and  copper  are  on  a  like  scale.  In  Nova 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION.  341 

Scotia,  hollows  in  veins  of  red  hematite  are  hung  with  pen- 
dants like  icicles.  In  many  of  the  specimens  of  iron  and 
other  ores  exhibited  in  1851  and  1862,  in  London,  the  struc- 
ture of  the  ore  suggests  fusion.  Gold  nuggets  seem  to  have 
been  suddenly  cooled  while  in  a  state  of  fusion  ;  and  gold- 
bearing  quartz  looks  like  burnt  stone.  If  ores  were  fused 
and  thrown  up  like  dykes  at  some  places,  metallic  vapours 
may  have  risen  elsewhere,  as  steam  rises  through  chinks  in 
igneous  rocks  in  Iceland,  and  as  iron  has  risen  in  Elba. 

In  Yorkshire  the  smelting  of  lead-ores  caused  so  much 
damage  to  vegetation  in  the  dales,  that  smelters  were  forced 
to  use  their  wits  and  cure  the  evil.  On  the  tops  of  the 
Yorkshire  hills  they  built  chimneys,  and  from  these  they 
made  passages  along  the  hill-sides,  down  to  old  furnaces  in 
the  dales.  Some  of  these  passages  are  three  miles  long. 
The  smoke  from  the  hearths  was  passed  up  to  the  barren 
moors,  and  there  it  now  escapes  harmlessly.  The  sweepings 
of  these  chimneys  were  found  to  contain  valuable  metals, 
which  only  did  harm  when  out  of  place.  These  were  sub- 
limed at  the  smelting-house,  and  they  were  carried  upwards 
by  the  draught.  Forty  tons  of  lead  were  taken  out  of  one 
chimney  in  one  year,  and  arsenic  and  other  metals  were  also 
swept  out  of  the  vent.  At  a  distance  of  three  miles,  the  pro- 
portion of  condensed  metal  in  the  sweepings  nearly  equalled 
the  proportion  lower  down,  and  the  black  smoke  which  es- 
capes still  carries  sublimed  metal  into  the  air.  In  this  process 
the  heat  of  a  small  smelting-hearth  drove  lead  a  distance  of 
three  miles,  and  it  will  drive  it  much  further  when  the  vents 
are  made  longer.  It  is  not  possible  to  get  at  the  roots  of 
lodes,  but  it  is  easy  to  walk  down  from  the  chimney-top  to 
this  smelting-house,  and  to  look  in  at  the  fluid  metal  without 
being  consumed. 


342  UPHEAVAL. 

Lead-ores  contain  a  great  deal  of  silver,  and  smelted  lead 
is  sent  to  Newcastle  to  be  refined.  There  it  is  possible  to  see 
a  working-model  of  an  engine  strong  enough  to  work  geolo- 
gical upheaval,  and  the  mechanical  power  which  works  it  is 
a  dazzling  white  heat.  The  little  engine  may  throw  light  into 
the  darkness  of  the  earth's  past  history,  and  down  upon  strata, 
which  cannot  be  reached,  beneath  Laurentian  gneiss. 

In  separating  lead  and  silver  many  tons  of  impure  metal 
are  fused  in  a  row  of  large  iron  caldrons.  At  one  stage  in  the 
process,  the  temperature  has  to  be  reduced  to  about  550°,  and 
it  is  done  by  putting  out  the  fires,  by  stirring  the  metal, 
and  by  throwing  cold  water  upon  the  fluid  amalgam.* 
Though  the  boiling  point  of  water  is  212°,  and  the  metal  is 
hotter  than  550°,  the  water  does  not  all  fly  off  in  steam  at 
once.  Spherical  masses  roll  upon  the  pool  of  molten  lead, 
and  these  whirl  and  oscillate,  striking  and  rebounding  like 
elastic  marbles,  and  apparently  dancing  on  nothing.  Their 
weight,  or  their  resistance  to  the  force  which  supports  them, 
reacts  upon  the  crust  which  forms  under  them,  for  the  surface 
bends  where  they  rest ;  but  they  do  not  touch  the  lead.  Many 
of  these  are  hollow  shells  of  water,  supported  on  a  core  of 
steam,  which  is  constantly  forming  below,  and  condensing 
above  (see  p.  353). 

Every  now  and  then  a  water-ball  as  big  as  a  musket-bullet 
bursts  like  a  molten  shell  or  breaks.  Fragments  large  as 
shot  of  various  sizes  then  disperse,  radiating  from  centres, 
and  each  fragment  becomes  a  separate  rolling  sphere.  Some 
are  hollow,  some  are  not,  and  the  steam-chambers  vary  in 
size.  These  roll  hither  and  thither  on  the  hot  pool  for  many 

*  December  16,  1863.  For  full  scientific  descriptions  of  this  process,  see 
A  Manual  of  Metallurgy,  by  John  A.  Phillips,  London,  1852,  p.  496.  See 
also  Reid's  Elements  of  Chemistry,  1839,  p.  416. 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION.  343 

minutes,  but  slowly  and  gradually  the  water-spheres  diminish 
in  size  and  number  ;  and  they  all  turn  to  steam  and  vanish 
when  they  have  done  their  work  by  taking  heat  from  the 
metal  to  give  it  to  the  air.  The  heat  which  does  this  work 
is  a  luminous  red  heat  which  acts  on  photographic  plates 
like  any  other  light.  It  seems  to  be  a  mechanical  force 
also. 

If  a  white-hot  bar  of  iron  is  plunged  into  water,  some- 
thing of  the  same  kind  happens.  Little  steam  rises  unless 
the  bar  is  plunged  so  deep  that  pressure  overcomes  resistance  ; 
then  steam  explodes  and  scatters  the  water.  A  wet  finger 
may  be  dipped  into  a  caldron  of  lead  or  fluid  iron  with  per- 
fect impunity  ;  there  is  scarcely  a  sensation  of  warmth, 
though  the  metal  is  hot  enough  to  char  a  stick,  or  fry  a 
beefsteak.  When  a  mass  of  hot  iron  is  under  the  steam- 
hammer,  water  is  commonly  sprinkled  on  it  to  clear  it  of 
scales ;  it  rolls  on  the  iron  like  shot  on  a  board.  But  when 
the  water-spheres  are  crushed  flat  by  the  heavy  blow  of 
the  hammer  they  explode  with  a  loud  report.  If  a  wet 
stick  is  thrust  beneath  the  surface  of  fluid  lead,  or  if 
air  is  buried  by  splashing  the  pool,  rapid  expansion  of 
gas  follows,  and  drops  of  metal  are  thrown  upwards 
and  scattered  by  an  explosion.  If  water  is  thrown  on 
metal  so  far  cooled  as  to  admit  of  contact  between  the  two 
surfaces,  then  water  takes  up  heat  and  turns  to  steam, 
while  the  metal  darkens.  In  a  short  time  more  light  from 
within  supplies  the  loss  of  "steam-power,"  and  the  metal 
brightens.  As  a  hot  poker  and  a  wet  finger  are  protected  by 
gloves  of  steam  from  contact  with  cold  water  and  hot  metal, 
so  water-spheres  are  guarded  and  supported  and  shaped  by 
the  steam  which  forms  between  cold  water  and  hot  metal. 
Hollow  spheres  float  on  steam  atmospheres,  and  both  are 


344  UPHEAVAL. 

repelled  by  strong  heat.  So  heat-rays  are  force,  and  the 
brightest  are  the  strongest. 

But  when  this  ray-power  does  not  equal  the  opposing 
weight-power,  as  in  the  case  of  the  blow  struck  by  the  steam- 
hammer,  the  fluid  sinks  through  its  vapour,  takes  in  a  full 
charge  of  heat  from  the  metal,  and  bursts  into  steam.  Strong 
heat,  light,  or  ray-force,  may  keep  two  heavy  bodies  apart  in 
spite  of  the  whole  force  of  the  earth's  attraction  at  its  surface  ; 
repulsion  and  attraction  do,  in  fact,  shape  fluids  into  hollow 
spheres. 

While  under  these  special  conditions,  the  order  of  the 
water  series  was — 

COLD.     DARK.  DOWNWARD  FORCE.     ATTRACTION. 

Air  and  steam. 

Thick  shell  of  water.  \  f  Fluid,  less  than  \ 

Steam  core.  >  #t      <  Gas,  more  than  V  2 1 2°. 


Thin  shell  of  water. 


Fluid,  less  than 


Air  and  steam.  \_ 

Heat.  ) 

Crust  of  lead,  dull  red.  — ^—      Plastic  solid  freezing. 
Melted  lead  and  silver,  «wvx     Fluid,  about  550°. 
HEAT  AND  BRIGHT  RED  LIGHT.  Force.      UPWARD  FORCE.     KEPULSION. 

The  arrangement  is  unstable,  and  can  only  endure  for  a 
time ;  but  while  it  lasts  the  earth's  ATTRACTION  is  overcome 
by  REPULSION.  A  central  sphere  of  hot  gas  in  a  shell  of  colder 
fluid  is  possible ;  to  make  it  last,  the  centre  of  gravity  and 
the  centre  of  heat  must  nearly  coincide,  and  continue  so  to 
coincide.  If  it  so  coincides  while  the  mass  cools,  a  drop  of 
water  may  become  a  shell  of  ice,  or  a  hailstone,  or  a  snow- 
crystal,  with  a  structure  radiating  like  rays  of  force ;  but  a 
drop  resting  upon  a  plane  is  squeezed  out  of  shape  by  weight 
and  resistance. 

The  temperature  of  550°,  which  thus  changes  the  form 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION.  345 

and  condition  of  water,  is  only  the  freezing-point  of  pure  lead. 
At  550°  the  metal  crystallizes  like  water  at  32°.  Small  crystals 
form  in  the  mass,  and  float  up  like  ice  forming  in  a  freezing- 
pail,  others  sink  like  salt.  If  left  to  themselves  these  crystals 
form  a  crust ;  if  stirred  they  melt,  and  disperse  and  crystallize 
again. 

More  crystals  form  as  the  temperature  falls,  and  many 
sink,  for  lead  is  heavier  than  silver.  Some  form  and  stick  on 
the  cooling  sides  of  the  vessel ;  some  unite  ;  lead  and  water- 
ice  alike  freeze  on  iron  spoons  which  are  used  to  stir  a  freez- 
ing mess,  for  iron  is  a  good  conductor.  In  one  case  a  mea- 
sured scale  marks  550°,  in  the  other  32°,  or  28°,  or  14°,  as  the 
case  may  be ;  the  shapes  of  the  crystals  differ,  but  cooling  obeys 
the  same  law  in  this  metal  amalgam  and  in  salt  water.  When 
crystals  form  rapidly  in  the  lead,  a  great  iron  strainer  is 
plunged  into  the  pot,  and  it  strains  and  gathers  out  a  spoonful 
of  dry  granular  lead-ice,  from  which  the  wet  drains  and 
trickles  away.  The  lead-sludge  is  thrown  into  a  caldron  to 
be  separately  cooked,  and  passed  along  the  row  of  caldrons  ; 
the  fluid  is  left  to  be  enriched,  for  in  that  fluid  is  the  silver. 

The  freezing  point  of  silver  is  far  higher  than  that  of  lead ; 

Lead  melts         .          .         612°* 
Silver        .         .         .       1873° 

it  takes  longer  to  part  with  the  heat  which  keeps  it  fluid. 
As  water  and  brine  are  separated  by  crystallization  at  or  about 
freezing,  so  lead  and  silver  are  parted  at  or  about  550°.  As 
brine  is  strengthened  by  adding  brine,  and  by  taking  fresh- 
water ice  away,  so  a  pot  of  metal  is  enriched  by  adding  a 
mixture  of  lead  and  silver,  and  by  taking  out  crystals  of  pure 

*  There  is  no  certain  measure  for  high  temperatures.  These  and  other 
figures  are  quoted  from  works  of  authority,  or  from  statements  made  by  prac- 
tical men. 


346  UPHEAVAL. 

lead,  wetted  with  fluid  amalgam.    During  the  cooling  of  these 
metals  the  upper  series  is — 

Cold.  Weight-force. 

Solid          .        .     thin  Lead  crust. 

Fluid         .        -ws/vv       .  Lead  and  silver. 

Heat  .  0  .     about  550°. 

Ray-force. 

As  cooling  goes  on  a  crust  forms  all  around,  above,  and 
below,  and  against  the  sides  of  the  iron  vessel ;  wherever  rays 
of  heat  escape;  most  where  they  escape  most;  and  a  fluid 
core  is  left  at  last.  A  large  round  drop,  composed  of  these 
metals,  and  cooling  in  space  as  they  cool  in  a  cup,  would  have 
a  crust  of  frozen  lead  and  a  hot  core  of  lead  and  silver,  partly 
fluid,  and  crystallizing  while  cooling  by  radiation. 

When  this  solution  of  silver  in  lead  is  strong  enough, 
more  heat-power  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  mixture,  and  the 
metals  work  on  a  different  plan.  They  boil. 

Melted  amalgam  is  ladled  from  a  pot  into  a  large  cup, 
made  of  bone-dust,  and  hot  air  and  a  strong  flame  are  made 
to  play  on  the  metal  surface.  The  mess  seethes.  Thick 
fumes  of  leaden  steam  are  driven  off,  and  fly  away,  with  hot 
air  and  coal-smoke,  through  the  chimney.  In  Yorkshire 
such  fumes  fly  three  miles  and  more.  Lead  and  oxygen  com- 
bine, and  when  combined,  they  stream  through  the  bone 
filter  as  melted  litharge  ;  or  they  float  on  the  silver,  and  flow 
over  the  edge  of  the  cup.  But  the  boiling  point  of  silver, 
like  its  freezing  point,  is  higher  than  that  of  lead,  and  fluid 
silver  is  denser  and  heavier  than  fluid  litharge ;  so,  while  lead 
evaporates,  and  litharge  floats  and  flows  away  like  slag,  silver 
sinks  through  the  lighter  fluid  and  floats  on  the  strainer,  and 
the  rich  broth  grows  richer  still.  As  the  lead  boils  off,  more 
and  more  of  the  stock  is  ladled  in,  till  the  "  dainty  dish  is  fit 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION.  347 

to  set  before  a  king ; "  and  then,  with  an  extra  force  of  heat, 
the  last  of  the  lead  is  driven  away,  and  the  silver-plate  is 
cooked.  The  bright  metal  clears  up  like  the  sun  breaking 
through  mist  ;  and  it  shines. 

In  water,  lead,  and  silver,  like  effects  are  produced  by 
various  temperatures.  The  heat  which  evaporates  water 
freezes  lead ;  the  heat  which  evaporates  lead  only  melts  silver  ; 
the  force  of  electric  light  drives  them  all  away  in  fumes.  At 
the  highest  of  these  temperatures,  and  at  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  at  the  earth's  surface  now,  water,  lead,  and  silver 
are  gases  ;  all  three  are  solids  at  32°. 

Mingled  together,  and  cooling,  these  fumes  or  gases  would 
condense  in  order,  or  combine  and  condense  in  some  new 
order.  Silver  would  sink  in  a  fluid  oxide  of  lead.  Litharge 
would  flow  on  the  top  of  red-hot  silver,  and  form  a  crust  of 
oxide  when  it  cooled,  and  water  would  become  ice  upon  the 
heavier  solids  only  after  they  had  both  fallen  and  frozen,  and 
cooled  to  32°.  Till  that  point  was  reached  there  could  be  no 
rest  for  water,  for  heat  would  move  it  in  escaping  from  the 
hottest,  lowest,  and  heaviest,  through  the  highest,  lightest, 
and  coldest  of  this  series  of  three  fusible  solids. 

The  "  working"  of  this  engine  is  a  thing  to  be  seen.  It 
was  seen  in  Edinburgh  class-rooms,  in  Spain,  and  elsewhere,  in 
1839  and  1842  ;  at  Newcastle  it  was  seen  again  with  a  purpose, 
after  seeing  Vesuvius,  Hecla,  and  the  Geysers.  Seventeen 
thousand  ounces  have  been  refined  in  one  cake  by  Pattinson's 
process,  first  invented  in  1827;  9000  ounces  make  an  ordi- 
nary charge.  It  is  a  pool  four  inches  deep,  two  feet  and  a 
half  wide,  and  charged  with  from  1700  to  1800  degrees  of 
temperature,  and  it  is  a  powerful  little  engine  to  work  up- 
heaval. The  pool  is  perfectly  fluid ;  it  shines  with  a  bril- 
liant white  light  of  its  own,  and  reflects  other  light  like  a 


348  UPHEAVAL. 

polished  mirror.  When  the  hot  breath  of  the  furnace  plays 
on  the  surface  it  ripples  like  water  ;  when  the  cup  is  shaken 
the  shining  mirror  is  broken  up  into  waves ;  when  a  white- 
hot  cinder  falls  on  it,  rings  spread  as  they  do  when  a  stone  is 
thrown  into  water ;  when  the  temperature  varies  within  the 
cooling  mass,  gentle  currents  move  hither  and  thither,  and 
glowing  embers  drift  on  them  like  fire-ships  on  a  calm  tide. 
The  fluid  surface  is  smooth  as  glass,  and  still  when  undis- 
turbed, for  silver,  quicksilver,  and  water,  when  melted,  all  obey 
the  laws  which  govern  the  movements  of  fluids  ;  but  of  these 
three  only  the  hottest  shines.  A  constant  play  of  colours  and 
a  maze  of  curves  play  on  the  surface  with  every  movement 
and  breath  of  air.  Like  a  soap-bubble,  or  oily  hot  water,  the 
fluid  shining  silver  has  a  thin  varnish  in  rapid  movement, 
which  refracts  and  distorts  the  rising  light. 

There  is  a  great  store  of  latent  force  in  the  quiet  silver 
pool  ;  it  shines,  and  there  is  hot  oxygen  locked  up  in  it. 
There  is  gas  ready  to  expand,  and  ray-force  only  waits  for 
resistance  to  show  its  power. 

With  cold  the  resistance  comes,  and  the  battle  rages. 
When  the  silver  is  pure  the  fire  is  extinguished,  and 
freezing  speedily  begins.  First  a  few  crystals  form  on  the 
surface,  then  a  network,  then  a  thin  skin.  If  a  bit  of  cold 
silver  is  tossed  in  about  this  stage,  it  floats  like  a  small  ice- 
berg, and  gathers  a  thin  raft  about  it.  The  silver-ice  may 
be  pushed  about,  for  it  is  a  floating  body  ;  and  if  pushed 
down,  it  rises  again  high  above  the  fluid.  It  stands  higher 
than  ice  in  water ;  far  higher  than  solid  lead  in  fluid  lead. 
Every  point  seems  to  act  as  a  way  for  heat  to  escape  ; 
the  floats  soon  take  root  by  spreading  below ;  and  so  they 
grow  and  spread,  as  icebergs  do,  in  freezing  water.  At  this 
stage  the  lustre  of  raised  points  far  exceeds  that  of  smooth 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION.  349 

plains ;  the  rough  solid  hills  are  white,  hot,  and  '  tell'  light 
against  smooth  thin  crusts  in  the  lower  regions.  These  tell 
dark  in  this  general  blaze  of  light.  When  the  cooling  has 
advanced  to  a  certain  point,  and  a  pellicle  forms  all  over, 
a  stream  of  cold  air  is  blown  in  to  hasten  the  cooling. 
Then  the  lustre  changes  from  dazzling  white  to  red,  the  upper 
crust  thickens,  and  the  action  becomes  rapid.  Molten  silver 
is  within ;  it  is  compressed  by  the  forming  shell,  and  hot 
oxygen  is  squeezed  out  of  the  mass.  The  surface  at  this  stage 
begins  to  break  up  and  bubble  ;  it  is  upheaved ;  silver  escapes 
where  resistance  is  least,  generally  near  the  edge,  where  the 
heat  of  the  cup  keeps  the  crust  thin  and  soft. 

At  this  stage  the  light  of  the  surface  changes  colour 
rapidly.  Where  the  hot  interior  finds  a  vent,  it  is  still  bril- 
liantly white  ;  where  the  crust  has  set,  light  is  bright  red  ; 
where  the  crust  is  thick,  it  is  a  dark  cherry  red.  Hills  now 
tell  dark  against  lighter  coloured  lower  grounds,  and  the 
brightest  spots  are  hollows  in  hill-tops  and  boiling  holes  in 
the  plains.  There  is  great  variety  in  light  which  shines  out 
of  hot  silver  while  it  is  freezing,  and  the  same  is  true  of  all 
other  materials  which  have  been  watched.  This  light,  like 
sun-light  or  any  other  light,  may  be  refracted  and  reflected  : 
a  lens  forms  an  image  of  the  silver  on  a  screen  ;  the  image 
formed  on  the  palm  of  the  hand  is  sensibly  hot.  The  metal 
is  giving  off  light  and  heat,  which  produce  their  usual  effects 
at  a  distance.  Similar  rays  made  water-spheres  revolve  above 
dull  red  molten  lead,  and  white-hot  solid  iron.  The  silver 
plate  is  a  self-luminous  body,  like  the  sun,  for  the  time. 

To  prevent  loss  from  boiling  over  at  the  edge,  the  work- 
men commonly  prick  the  silver  plate  in  the  middle  ;  they 
break  holes  in  the  ice,  and  the  silver  pool  wells  up  like  water 
in  a  pond.  Then  comes  the  time  of  rapid  upheaval  and 


350  UPHEAVAL. 

disturbance.  Bits  of  broken  crust  rise  and  fall  like  the 
lid  of  a  box,  and  hot  springs  of  boiling  silver  gush  out 
in  shining  fountains  of  glittering  light.  They  freeze  as 
they  overflow,  and  hollow  pillars  rise  up,  growing  like 
the  trees  of  Aladdin.  They  rise  and  grow  and  branch,  and 
shed  a  crop  of  silver  fruit,  till  they  reach  the  point  where 
the  pressure  from  without  equals  the  force  within,  and  then, 
when  the  weight  equals  the  heat,  when  the  column  of  fluid  is 
balanced  by  the  gas,  the  tube  is  sealed  by  a  silver  dome,  and 
that  well  in  the  ice  is  frozen. 

All  these  quaint  forms  are  casts  of  ray-force.  Motion  is 
arrested  suddenly,  and  fountains  are  caught  flying. 

Larger  holes  give  rise  to  larger  tubes,  through  which  boil- 
ing silver  splashes  out.  Tubes  grow  into  truncated  cones, 
and  these  as  they  rise  gradually  narrow,  till  their  limit  is 
reached.  Then  they  too  cool  and  close,  and  a  silver  volcano 
is  plugged  with  frosted  silver.  When  the  cone  is  finished,  and 
the  vent  stopped,  smaller  vents  open  in  the  plain  ;  and  from 
these  a  crop  of  tubes  and  cones  grow,  till  a  range  of  hills  forms 
on  a  frozen  silver  sea.  There  is  scarcely  a  mountain  form  or 
fantastic  lava-shape  in  Iceland,  a  branching  shape  in  a  metal 
vein,  or  an  ice-form  off  Labrador,  that  may  not  be  thus  copied 
in  freezing  silver. 

Throughout  this  period,  the  explosive  force  within  casts 
showers  of  spherical  drops  whirling  into  the  air,  and  each  of 
these  for  the  time  becomes  a  separate  system,  moving  in 
obedience  to  the  laws  which  govern  projectiles,  and  working 
itself  into  shape,  because  it  is  moulded  by  two  opposite  forces 
in  obedience  to  the  laws  wThich  govern  force.  These  sparks 
work  in  the  air,  as  they  fly,  while  the  parent  plate  works 
in  its  cup ;  and  many  of  them  cool  as  hollow  shells  about 
chambered  interiors. 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION.  351 

For  a  full  hour  a  plate  of  9000  ounces  continued  these 
displays  of  volcanic  action  ;  the  charge  of  heat  raised 
mounds  of  silver  more  than  six  inches  above  the  surface, 
and  threw  silver  drops  to  a  distance  of  more  than  two 
feet.  At  last  the  whole  mass  froze,  and  then  the  rapid  action 
ceased. 

But  though  violent  boiling  ended  then,  so  far  as  silver 
was  concerned,  there  was  still  a  great  store  of  light,  heat,  and 
force  in  the  solid.  The  light  was  cherry  red  in  the  hollows, 
dark  red  on  the  hills,  and  the  light  which  the  crust  reflected 
was  pure.  The  heat  was  still  felt  at  a  distance,  the  lustre 
was  seen  in  hollows  and  cracks  ;  and  water  thrown  on  boiled 
furiously,  or  danced  as  it  did  on  hot  lead. 

The  frozen  plate  was  dragged  from  the  furnace  at  last  and 
weighed,  and  then  it  was  cut  into  jnnks  with  steel  chisels, 
and  heavy  sledge-hammers  wielded  with  a  will  by  brawny 
arms.  It  took  a  great  amount  of  physical  force  to  quarry 
this  work  of  heat  and  cold.  The  internal  structure  was  shown 
in  the  section.  The  mass  was  hollow,  chambered  and  crystal- 
lized like  slag,  or  Icelandic  lava,  or  glacier-ice. 

If  one  of  the  numerous  spheres  which  were  thrown  off 
by  this  plate  were  the  subject  of  inquiry  and  out  of  reach  ; 
if  its  path  were  known,  its  surface  seen,  its  size  measured,  its 
density  calculated  from  its  movements,  its  light  analysed,  and 
its  composition  unknown  ;  the  data  would  not  give  pure  silver, 
because  of  the  spongy  structure  of  the  mass.  If  planets  are 
made  on  the  same  plan,  philosophers  may  have  to  revise  some 
of  their  conclusions  as  to  other  worlds. 

When  remelted  and  run  into  bars  and  ingots,  the  silver 
takes  less  room,  and  has  greater  density,  though  many  ingots 
are  chambered  still.  When  stamped  and  hammered,  the 
metal  has  still  greater  specific  gravity,  greater  density.  It 


352  UPHEAVAL. 

is  the  same  substance,  differently  packed  by  natural  mechani- 
cal force  and  by  men. 

like  the  water  and  the  lead,  the  cooling  mass,  during 
part  of  the  process,  was  a  solid  shell  with  a  fluid  core,  and 
during  that  time  force  worked  most  upheaval.  The  free  pro- 
jectiles were  spherical,  with  crusts  roughened  by  radiating 
projections,  and  with  spongy  cores. 

A  world  arranged  as  a  core  of  hot  gas  in  a  shell  of  fluid, 
with  a  solid  crust,  is  possible ;  because  that  arrangement 
always  recurs  in  making  this  experiment.  It  always  results 
in  certain  outward  forms,  and  these  endure  when  the  action 
has  ceased,  to  show  what  the  nature  of  the  action  was.  But 
till  the  engine  was  seen  to  work,  the  forms  had  little  meaning. 
A  portrait  of  a  "specimen  of  pure  silver"  is  on  page  338, 
and  it  was  thus  prepared  : — a  bent  iron  point  was  dipped  into 
the  silver  and  came  out  red-hot,  with  a  frozen  crust  of  white- 
hot  silver-ice  upon  it.  By  dipping,  this  grew  to  be  a  smooth 
shining  hemispherical  half-frozen  button,  and  then  it  was  set 
to  freeze  in  a  draught.  It  cooled  as  the  large  plate  cooled 
afterwards,  but  suddenly ;  and  the  fluid  interior  burst  vio- 
lently through  the  crust :  the  fountains  froze  as  they  flew  ;  and 
strange  shapes  resulted  from  their  movements,  and  these  from 
forces.  Gravitation  acted  downwards  towards  the  earth's 
centre  :  radiation  from  within  the  silver  outwards  in  all  direc- 
tions :  expansion  acted  from  within,  contraction  from  without : 
the  radiating  forms  were  casts  of  distorted  rays. 

The  duration  of  the  rapid  action  was  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  mass.  A  spark  cooled  as  it  flew.  An  ounce  cooled 
in  a  few  moments.  Nine  thousand  ounces  worked  for  an 
hour  after  the  fires  were  drawn.  Seventeen  thousand  ounces 
worked  for  a  much  longer  time  ;  the  mountains  were  far  larger 
and  higher,  and  the  eruptions  threatened  to  blow  off  the  brick 


DYKES — VEINS — SUBLIMATION. 


353 


roof  of  the  arclied  furnace,  through  which  a  window  was  opened 
to  let  spectators  see  this  silver  light  do  the  work  of  ray-force. 

The  violence  of  the  action  was  in  proportion  to  its  rapidity. 
A  charge  of  force  had  to  be  expended,  and  it  escaped  quietly 
and  slowly,  or  suddenly  and  with  explosive  violence.  A  small 
mass  suddenly  cooled,  burst,  or  threw  up  high  projections  in 
proportion  to  its  bulk.  A  like  mass  more  slowly  cooled, 
worked  for  a  longer  time,  but  did  not  work  explosively. 

Of  three  masses  of  unequal  size — a  drop,  an  ounce,  and  the 
parent  mass  cooling  together  in  the  same  temperature — the 
smallest  cooled  first,  and  had  the  highest  projections  ;  the 
larger  cooled  next,  and  the  largest  last. 

The  first  was  cold  and  only  reflected  light  when  the  second 
was  still  working,  and  shining  through  cracks  and  holes  in 
its  crust ;  the  third  was  working  and  shining,  shedding  light 
and  heat  on  the  other  two,  when  both  were  cold  and  dark. 

That  shining  silver  plate  is  an  engine  on  which  thoughts 
may  travel  a  long  way,  in  as  many  directions  as  there  are 
rays  in  spheres  of  light  and  gravitation. 


Cold  dark  do-wmvard  for 
Attraction. 


VOL.  IT. 


FIG.  104. 


Heat  and  bright  red  light. 

Upward  ray-force. 

Repulsion. 


CHAPTER   LIU. 

UPHEAVAL    2 — RAYS   AND   WEIGHT   2 — FUSION   AND   FREEZING- 
METAL  AND   SLAG. 

WHEN  so  many  roads  are  open  it  is  hard  to  choose  a  path. 
If  light  be  visible  force,  the  diameter  of  the  sphere  within 
which  it  works  is  twice  two  of  the  greatest  distances  yet 
measured  from  this  world  to  another  star ;  for  light,  if  it 
shines  thus  far  from  a  point  in  space,  must  shine  as  far  in 
other  directions. 


Space  and  distance  on  this  scale  must  be  left  to  astrono- 
mers. A  shorter  path  will  lead  a  student  to  the  nearest  fur- 
nace where  metals  are  fused,  and  there  he  will  find  ample 
room  for  him.  Stars  though  visible  are  out  of  reach ;  our 
own  little  world  is  too  big  to  be  seen  ;  but  at  a  furnace  it  is 
easy  to  see  and  to  think  ; — to  watch  small  shining  bits  of  our 
world  fusing,  boiling,  whirling  through  the  air,  freezing  and 
falling  ;  to  see  small  work  done  during  minutes,  hours,  or 
days,  and  to  think  of  material  things  obeying  the  same  laws 
during  all  time.  The  scholar  may  learn  one  more  alphabet  of 
form  by  watching  solids,  fluids,  and  gases,  which  are  parts  of 
a  great  whole,  fusing,  and  freezing,  and  taking  shapes  from 
forces  and  their  fixed  laws. 

If  any  laws  govern  all  matter,  they  apply  to  all  quanti- 
ties, times,  and  distances  alike  ;  to  the  least  as  to  the  greatest, 


FUSING  AND  FREEZING.  355 

to  sparks  and  to  worlds.  Gravitation  seems  to  be  a  law 
which  applies  to  all  visible  material  things  ;  if  visible  light 
be  an  opposing  force  of  like  general  application,  these  two 
may  have  shaped  worlds  in  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the 
great  Lawgiver  who  made  this  round  world  like  a  little  drop. 
Modern  astronomy  rests  upon  gravitation,  which  is  a  law 
discovered  from  the  movements  of  projectiles  large  and  small. 
Whirling  worlds  and  still  larger  systems  of  worlds  all  seem  to 
obey  that  one  force.  If  they  obey  two,  and  if  light  is  one  of 
these,  a  knowledge  of  a  second  law  may  grow  from  little  things. 
If  natural  philosophers  will  deign  to  study  rubbish  by  furnace- 
light,  and  make  experiments,  they  may  learn  to  follow  ray- 
power  as  far  as  gravitation  in  time.  That  is  a  way  which  lies 
open  beyond  the  short  path  which  leads  to  the  furnace. 

Let  a  few  familiar  examples  suffice  to  explain  what  is 
meant  by  "ray-power."  The  subject  is  too  large  for  unskilful 
hands  and  minds  to  grasp.  It  is  dangerous  even  to  step  on 
such  untried  ground. 

Gases,  fumes,  steam  ;  fluids,  hot  water,  lavas,  and  suchlike 
hot  materials  are  now  escaping  through  sedimentary  and 
igneous  crusts.  Since  this  part  of  these  volumes  was  first 
written,  two  volcanic  eruptions  have  taken  place  in  Sicily, 
one,  at  least,  in  Iceland ;  the  sea  was  disturbed  off  New- 
foundland in  1864,  and  England  has  several  times  been 
shaken  by  earthquakes.  If  lavas  make  large  hills  above,  they 
must  leave  large  hollows  below  the  crust ;  it  is  impossible  to 
get  at  these  halls,  but  perhaps  they  may  be  seen  through  small 
holes,  made  on  the  same  plan,  by  the  same  working  giants, 
with  the  same  materials,  in  small  igneous  crusts.  Chambers 
abound  in  all  frozen  crusts,  and  frozen  slags  are  made  of 
fused  rocks ;  if  geology  cannot  quarry  through  the  earth's 
crust,  let  her  study  wherever  she  can,  and  begin  with  slag. 


356  UPHEAVAL — RAYS  AND  WEIGHT. 

Chambers  in  a  solid  are  well  seen  in  Wenliam  Lake 
ice,  in  impure  glass,  and  in  frozen  soda-water  within 
a  bottle,  which  is  a  transparent  crust  of  impure  glass  : 
hollows  like  these  may  be  found  by  breaking  or  cutting 
through  bread,  biscuit,  pie-crust,  plates  of  sulphur,  seal- 
ing-wax, tallow,  ingots  of  various  metals,  and  plates  of  slag 
which  are  opaque.  Larger  hollows,  of  like  shape,  abound  in 
lavas  which  were  fused,  and  whose  history  is  known  ;  in  ores 
and  in  rocks,  whose  history  is  not  so  well  known ;  but  many 
of  these  rocks  certainly  were  fused  like  the  slag.  Similar 
but  far  larger  chambers  also  abound  in  the  crust,  from  which 
lavas  rise  and  stones  are  quarried.  By  watching  at  a  furnace, 
the  growth  of  a  chamber  and  some  of  the  resulting  phenomena 
may  be  seen,  and  the  lesson  seems  good  for  geological  appli- 
cation. Many  chambers  were  formed  during  the  freezing 
of  the  Newcastle  silver  plate  (chap.  Hi.) ;  one  large  steam 
chamber,  and  many  small  ones,  formed  in  the  hot-water  sphere 
(p.  353).  Because  outward  forms  in  volcanic  countries  re- 
semble those  which  always  result  from  the  boiling  and  freez- 
ing of  water,  slag,  metals,  and  other  materials,  the  inward 
structure  of  any  frozen  crust  throws  light  into  dark  chambers 
under  ground.  Of  several  volcanic  mountains  of  like  shape 
the  smallest  may  be  seen  to  grow,  and  may  be  broken  up  to 
see  the  structure  ;  or  a  transparent  glass  mountain  may  be 
watched  while  growing,  and  can  be  seen  through  when  it  has 
grown.  The  best  teacher  of  natural  science  is  experiment ; 
so  the  growth  of  forms  on  the  earth's  crust  may  perhaps  be 
learned  in  rubbish  heaps  by  furnace-light. 

Silver,  cast-iron,  mercury,  metals,  slag,  and  glass  are 
smooth  and  '  flat'  as  water  and  other  fluids  while  fused.  The 
surface  for  the  time  is  like  the  surface  of  the  sea,  part  of  a 
sphere  at  the  end  of  a  ray  :  it  is  like  a  bit  of  a  wheel  at  the 


FUSION  AND  FREEZING METAL  AND  SLAG.  357 

end  of  a  spoke,  and  it  takes  its  shape  from  gravitation.  A 
freezing  fluid  takes  many  shapes.  If  slowly  cooled,  it  is  flat 
and  smooth  like  ice  on  a  pond.  Furnace-refuse  left  to  cool  in 
the  air  sets  in  layers,  which  would  be  arched  crusts  if  they 
reached  to  the  horizon  or  covered  a  sea.  But  many  of  these 
concentric  layers  are  bent  and  shattered  ;  projections  of  various 
shapes  are  on  the  upper  surface,  chambers,  passages,  and  holes 
are  within.  Cold  slag  is  like  the  silver-plate  which  was  seen 
to  work,  and  silver  hollows  were  tracked  to  the  surface  where 
a  mound  was  seen  to  grow  ;  to  a  student  who  knows  this 
silver  alphabet,  the  outside  of  a  plate  of  cold  slag  tells  a  his- 
tory :  like  the  cover  of  this  book,  it  gives  some  notion  of  the 
contents.  The  furnace  gives  a  ready  answer  to  any  one  who 
seeks  the  meaning  of  a  new  form — a  new  letter  in  the  slag 
alphabet.  The  small  heat-engine  is  at  work,  and  the  tool- 
marks  of  ray-force  may  be  learned  in  that  small  source  of 
light,  a  blast-furnace. 

It  very  soon  appears  that  outward  forms  record  move- 
ments in  freezing  fluids  :  movements  caused  by  opposing 
forces,  whatever  the  freezing  or  boiling  points  of  the  fluids  may 
be.  In  chap.  viii.  an  attempt  was  made  to  show  how  trans- 
parent water  moves,  and  why.  Transparent  glass  moves  like 
boiling  water,  and  for  the  same  reason  opaque  slag,  while 
fluid,  is  moved  by  the  same  forces  acting  more  power- 
fully. The  fluid  obeys  the  law  of  gravitation  like  any  other 
fluid ;  it  falls  and  flows ;  and,  like  other  fluids,  it  boils 
and  rises  when  the  other  force  gets  the  mastery.  The  out- 
ward form  of  the  frozen  solid  is  a  record  of  the  struggle,  ard 
such  forms  are  built  about  rays.  The  axis  of  a  mound  in 
slag  is  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  the  horizon  ;  so  are  the 
axes  of  volcanic  mountains  set  upon  the  tire  of  a  wheel  drawn 
in  any  direction  round  the  sphere  of  the  world.  In  a  late 


358  UPHEAVAL — RAYS  AND  WEIGHT. 

book  which  gives  sound  information  from  behind  a  comic 
mask,*  it  is  stated  that  the  edge  of  a  crater  in  Mexico  was 
crowned  with  icicles  pointing  upwards.  They  were  forms 
built  about  rays,  and  probably  grew  from  vapour  caught  and 
frozen  while  rising  out  of  the  bowl.  Hoar-frost  so  forms  on 
posts,  gates,  rails,  and  trees,  near  wet  grounds  in  England  ;  it 
so  forms  on  the  edge  of  a  bowl  with  water  in  it ;  and  in 
colder  regions,  as  on  the  White  Mountains  in  North  America, 
larger  "  frost-work  "  grows  about  rays  which  meet  within  the 
substance  on  which  the  crystals  form.t  If  water  condenses, 
the  form  grows  by  deposition  about  rays.  If  water,  silver, 
glass,  metal,  or  slag  freezes  slowly  and  gradually,  the  crust  is 
flat  and  even  ;  if  it  cools  rapidly  or  suddenly,  the  crust  is 
uneven,  and  the  forms  either  aim  at  the  earth's  centre,  or  at 
some  other  point  or  line  about  which  they  grew  during  a 
struggle.  In  order  to  catch  the  meaning  of  outward  forms 
thus  produced,  they  must  be  seen  to  grow ;  they  must  be 
watched,  as  the  silver-plate  was  at  Newcastle. 

The  cut  p.  338  is  a  portrait  of  a  specimen  of  pure  silver, 
which  cooled  as  described  above  (p.  353).  The  arrows  show 
directions  in  which  two  forces  acted  : — Kays  from  points  and 
lines  within  bright  hot  masses  of  freezing  silver,  outwards ; 
weight,  attraction,  gravitation,  or  some  other  opposing  force, 
downwards,  towards  the  earth's  centre,  like  a  plumb-line ; 
inwards,  towards  points  and  lines  whence  the  ray-force 
diverged.  Such  forms  alone  suffice  to  explain  their  growth 
when  that  alphabet  is  learned  ;  and  slag-forms  are  like  them 
in  this  respect. 

Certain  glass  vessels  are  frosted  by  plunging  tough  red- 

*  Travels,  by  Umbra.     1864. 

•f  For  copies  of  these  forms,  see  photographs  published  at  New  York, 
which  may  be  purchased  in  London. 


FUSION  AND  FREEZING — METAL  AND  SLAG.  359 

hot  glass  into  cold  water.  Steam  carries  heat  rapidly  from 
the  outer  layer,  and  a  hard  shell  forms  suddenly.  It  shrinks 
rapidly  and  unevenly,  breaks,  and  the  bits  curl  up,  while  the 
hot  layer  within  sticks  to  the  shivered  crust,  and  rises  through 
a  network  of  cracks.  The  rest  of  the  cooling  goes  on  slowly 
in  heated  air,  and  the  finished  work  is  smooth  within,  but 
rough,  like  broken  ice,  outside.  The  inside  was  shaped  by 
air  blown  in  through  a  tube  ;  and  if  a  glass-blower  wants  to 
make  a  large  chamber,  he  blows  in  drops  of  water,  which  turn 
to  steam  and  expand  within  a  tough  glass  boiler.  It  expands 
like  India-rubber,  but  does  not  shrink,  for  it  freezes  hard. 
The  structure  of  transparent  glass,  and  the  shapes  of  chambers 
thus  formed  in  it,  can  be  seen  through  the  solid  walls.  A 
soda-water  bottle  will  serve  for  illustration,  and  the  lesson 
may  be  learned  at  any  glass-house. 

In  the  case  of  the  silver  plate,  a  gas  (supposed  to  be  oxygen) 
was  imprisoned  in  a  fluid,  and  it  acted  like  the  breath  of  a 
glass-blower.  Some  of  the  gas  escaped,  but  part  of  it  was 
caught  and  imprisoned  within  solid  walls  of  silver,  when  the 
metal  had  set.  In  all  cases  and  in  all  dimensions  like  action 
ought  to  produce  like  results.  Steam  bursts  hollow  spheres 
of  water,  which  dance  above  hot  metal  (see  p.  353).  The 
gas  either  bursts  a  prison  or  the  prison- walls  take  the  shape 
of  the  imprisoned  gas.  In  the  latter  case,  the  chamber  is  a 
cast  of  the  forces  which  expanded  the  gas  and  compressed  it. 
When  a  stream  of  iron  flows  over  wet  sand,  steam  forms  and 
expands  beneath  ;  the  fluid  iron  upon  the  sand  bubbles  like 
the  boiling  water  beneath  it,  and  part  of  the  steam  bursts 
through  ;  but  air  and  steam  are  often  caught  in  the  freezing 
plastic  iron  while  rising  through  the  tough  mass.  Each  hollow 
prison  then  takes  the  shape  of  the  struggling  prisoner.  It  is 
a  hollow  iron  mould  of  the  force  which  expanded  steam  and 


360  UPHEAVAL— RAYS  AND  WEIGHT. 

the  force  which  contracted  iron  ;  the  shape  of  it  records  the 
struggle  for  mastery  between  attraction  and  repulsion,  whicli 
ends  only  when  the  two  are  balanced.  But  when  the  prison 
has  cooled,  and  steam  has  condensed,  the  weight  of  the  whole 
atmosphere  tends  to  crush  the  walls  through  which  imprisoned 
heat  finds  a  way.  Domes  thus  formed  on  blistered  steel,  hollows 
in  cast-iron  and  in  other  metals,  are  often  crushed  and  bent 
inwards  by  weight.  So  ray-force  and  weight-force  together 
shape  this  crust.  Things  whicli  cannot  escape — air,  and 
water,  and  other  substances — often  line  such  hollows  with 
crystals,  and  so  leave  open  spaces.  Other  chambers  have 
porous  walls,  and  the  hollows  are  filled  from  without  long- 
after  they  are  made  ;  as  caves  and  mines  are  partially  filled 
with  ice  in  cold  regions.  A  slag  crust  is  like  the  rest :  when 
suddenly  cooled,  it  is  shattered  or  distorted.  Thick  plates, 
which  have  long  ceased  to  shine,  often  burst  asunder  on  the  cold 
floor  of  a  smelting-house  ;  and  when  they  do,  red  light,  or  the 
brighter  light  of  fusion,  shines  out  from  the  centre  of  the  mass. 

Though  metals  and  slag  are  opaque,  they  may  be  seen 
through  by  the  help  of  air,  water,  ice,  and  glass,  and  by  the 
forms  which  they  assume  while  freezing.  Perhaps  the  crust 
of  the  earth  may  be  seen  through  in  like  manner,  by  learning 
the  meaning  of  outward  forms  in  slag  and  lava.  Luminous 
heat  expands  steam,  which  moves  the  lid  of  a  kettle,  or 
moves  the  largest  engine  ;  the  same  force  blows  a  glass  bottle, 
makes  a  bubble  in  metal,  and  bursts  the  chambered  slag- 
crust,  which  is  made  of  fused  rocks.  The  same  heat  melts 
lava,  and  the  same  forces  which  shape  crusts  on  lava  and 
slag  may  have  shattered  the  earth's  crust,  as  a  workman 
shatters  the  crust  of  a  glass  jug  with  cold  water. 

The  writer  spent  much  of  his  childhood  amongst  rocks 
and  furnaces,  and  there  gleaned  ideas  which  are  now  packed 


FUSION  AND  FREEZING — METAL  AND  SLAG.  361 

in  these  volumes.  One  great  ploy  was  to  clamber  amongst 
sea-cliffs,  another  was  to  see  iron  "run."  That  is  a  sight 
which  bears  frequent  repetition,  though  many  visitors  only 
see  the  dirt  and  feel  the  heat.  Turner  thought  the  colour 
worthy  of  his  brush,  and  failed  to  copy  it.  Guthrie  saw  it, 
and  preached  a  sermon  about  it — and  even  Guthrie  failed  to 
describe  the  scene.  Till  brushes  are  dipped  in  light,  and 
words  are  real  fire,  the  scene  cannot  be  thus  brought  home. 
But  any  one  who  chooses  to  take  the  trouble  may  see  a 
smelting-house  for  himself,  and  a  student  of  natural  philo- 
sophy will  find  occupation  there.  In  Lanarkshire,  the  sky  glows 
at  night  with  the  flaring  red  light  of  great  fires.  They 
glow  in  hollows,  and  shine  from  distant  hills  like  stars  or 
beacons,  and  the  red  flames  which  glow  on  the  clouds  leap  up 
and  sink  down,  panting  with  regular  pulsations,  like  living 
things.  Each  of  these  lights  may  be  reached  by  following  a 
ray ;  and  each  is  a  centre  of  active  work,  in  every  sense  of 
the  term.  There  steam-engines  clank,  and  whistle,  and  yell, 
while  men  rush  hither  and  thither  with  iron  carts,  rattling 
over  iron-plates,  with  loads  of  fuel  and  iron-ore.  These  tilt 
their  loads  of  stones  dug  out  of  the  earth's  crust  into  conical, 
tall  furnaces,  whence  the  light  shone  upon  distant  hills  and 
clouds. 

A  roaring  blast  of  hot  air  is  blowing  furiously  at  the  base 
of  a  heap  which  grows  from  above,  and  the  heap  burns  and 
melts.  A  snow-heap  melts  below  when  it  rests  upon  warm 
earth ;  but  here  the  heap  is  made  of  the  crust  itself.  At 
Woolwich  a  heap  is  made  of  old  iron.  The  workmen  heave 
in  shot  and  shell,  clanking  chain-cables,  anchors,  old  rails, 
nails,  hoops,  clippings,  and  filings  ;  with  a  "  one — two — three 
— heave ;"  in  goes  an  old  rusty  gun  which  has  fought  and 
gone  out  of  fashion,  and  down  it  goes  with  a  crash  ;  and  so 


362  UPHEAVAL — RAYS  AND  WEIGHT. 

the  iron  heap  grows  to  be  a  pile  on  a  hot  base.  Snow,  iron, 
and  stone,  down  they  all  sink  alike  when  they  melt ;  and 
when  a  charge  is  fused  the  base  of  a  furnace  is  filled  with  a 
fluid,  which  takes  the  shape  of  the  cup  which  holds  it,  as 
snow-water  takes  the  shape  of  a  lake-basin,  or  the  sea  takes 
the  shape  of  its  bed.  But  here  two  separate  fluids  float  on 
each  other,  like  oil  on  water ;  one  is  heavy  iron,  the  other 
lighter  stone. 

The  lighter  fluid  is  constantly  drawn  off,  so  a  river  of  slag- 
is  pouring  all  day  long  from  the  base  of  each  furnace.  It  is 
a  miniature  lava-stream,  and  it  teaches  a  lesson  which  may  be 
used  elsewhere.  Morning  and  evening  the  heavier  iron  is 
"  run."  With  long  bars  and  heavy  sledge  hammers,  brawny 
half-naked  men  attack  the  base  of  the  hearth.  They  strike, 
and  push,  and  heave  with  might  and  main  ;  and  break,  and 
drill,  and  quarry  through  an  outer  crust  of  fire-brick  burned 
hard  as  altered  rock  in  a  single  day.  The  hand  may  rest  on 
one  side  of  the  brick ;  but  as  the  quarrying  goes  on,  a  red 
heat,  then  a  white  heat,  and  lastly  the  bright  light  of  fusion 
is  reached.  Then  out  bursts  the  flood,  glowing  and  shining, 
flowing  like  a  river  of  golden  light,  scattering  a  spray  of  shoot- 
ing stars,  which  hiss  and  fly  and  vanish  like  fireworks  at 
a  festival,  or  meteors  in  the  sky. 

It  is  a  period  of  rapid  action  in  iron,  but  it  is  a  period  of 
short  duration  at  a  furnace.  Moulds,  called  the  "  sow  and 
pigs,"  are  prepared  in  sand  ;  they  are  shaped  like  great  combs, 
and  down  these  trenches  the  golden  river  pours,  boiling  as  it 
flows.  The  light  changes  at  every  moment,  and  the  move- 
ments change  like  it.  Stars  soon  cease  to  fly  and  shine, 
but  darker  drops  are  thrown  up  when  the  metal  boils,  because 
air  and  steam  are  escaping  through  it  from  the  sand.  As 
each  comb  is  filled,  a  clay  plug  turns  the  stream,  and  when 


FUSION  AND  FREEZING— METAL  AND  SLAG.  363 

the  whole  charge  is  poured  out,  the  sand  floor  glows  with  red 
iron-ice  formed  in  ditches  of  sand.  Within  a  few  hours,  this 
ice  is  "  pig-iron,"  and  by  next  day  it  is  cold.  Cold  iron  floats 
on  fluid  iron,  as  ice  floats  on  water. 

The  forms  below  are  casts  of  the  mould,  the  upper  forms 
are  casts  of  the  forces  which  made  the  iron  boil  and  freeze, 
and  a  broken  "  pig"  shows  the  inner  structure  of  such  a  mass. 
The  case  of  the  silver  plate  is  repeated,  and  like  forms  recur 
in  iron  thus  manufactured  in  Lanarkshire  and  elsewhere. 

At  many  furnaces,  the  operation  is  carried  a  step  further. 
The  pigs  are  melted  again  to  make  malleable  iron,  and  the 
fluid  is  run  into  large  moulds. 

When  the  furnace  is  tapped,  iron  and  slag  pour  out  to- 
gether ;  a  bright,  shining,  double  river  of  metal  and  stone. 
It  curls  round  corners,  falls  over  shelves,  forms  pools  below 
the  falls,  and  eddies  like  any  other  stream.  The  fisherman's 
instinct  knows  the  very  spot  where  a  salamander  might  find 
good  resting-ground,  if  there  were  such  fish  in  that  glowing 
pool ;  there  are  the  very  eddies  and  whirlpools  which  a  wading 
fisherman  sees  meandering  past  his  legs  when  he  wades  out 
for  a  long  cast  (p.  225),  the  eddies  which  curl  behind  every  post 
in  a  stream  of  water  or  air  (see  vol.  i.)  But  this  is  a  double 
stream  about  to  freeze,  and  form  a  double  crust.  When  the 
mould  is  filled,  bright  colours  play  about  the  surface  ;  then  it 
darkens  and  curdles,  and  winds  sluggishly  as  the  slag  begins 
to  freeze.  Floating  stone  bergs  form  and  move  about  as 
froth  floats  on  a  river  ;  as  icebergs  float  on  the  sea  ;  a  crust 
begins  to  form  on  slag  floating  on  iron,  as  crusts  begin  to 
freeze  on  water,  on  glass,  lead,  silver,  and  iron  ;  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  slag-crust  sets  as  ice  did  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
when  it  set  this  winter.  This  is  the  slag  period  of  violent 
eruption,  the  crust  breaks,  and  the  fluid  core  bursts,  or  wells 
slowly  up  through  chinks  and  round  holes,  which  glow  and 


364  UPHEAVAL — RAYS  AND  WEIGHT. 

shine  brightly  in  the  red-hot  ice.  The  main  stream  flows  on 
below,  and  pours  over  from  pool  to  pool  as  before,  but  the 
upper  crust  continues  to  grow  on  the  surface.  Flaring  sparks 
fly  through  open  chinks,  and  when  caught  and  cooled  they 
are  cast-iron  spheres,  with  uneven  surfaces,  and  a  crust  of 
oxide.  The  iron  stream  below,  hotter  and  heavier  than  the 
upper  stream,  gradually  cools  and  stagnates  as  pig-iron  did 
alone.  The  stone  islands  of  the  upper  crust  grow  together, 
and  join  and  form  a  red-hot  solid  plain,  and  though  the  iron 
is  hid  in  this  case,  the  lower  crust  certainly  forms  as  it  formed 
in  sand  when  it  was  the  upper  crust. 

When  the  iron  freezes  the  slag  contracts,  darkens,  breaks, 
and  rises  into  miniature  mountain-chains.  The  first  surface, 
with  all  its  cones,  curves,  and  wrinkles,  and  the  whole  series 
of  crusts  which  formed  under  each  other,  rise  and  fall  together 
slowly  ;  and  all  the  phenomena  of  geological  upheaval  result 
from  this  stage  of  rapid  cooling,  in  slag  resting  on  cooling 
iron.  When  the  iron  stream  has  frozen  solid,  the  upper  crust 
remains  shattered,  distorted,  and  angular ;  but  also  bent,  folded, 
twisted,  and  chambered ;  it  bears  the  marks  of  fusion  and  of 
freezing  on  the  surface  and  in  every  section,  and  all  this  small 
work  was  seen  in  progress  so  far.  In  these  two  crusts  the 
time  of  rapid  action  ends  when  the  fluid  becomes  solid,  but 
there  is  still  a  great  charge  of  mechanical  force  in  the  hot  mass. 

The  next  step  in  the  manufacture  is  to  turn  on  a  stream  of 
water,  and  violent  action  is  renewed  at  once.  The  water  sinks 
into  the  chinks,  and  rises  with  all  the  borrowed  power  of  that 
tamed  giant  steam.  Motion  which  had  almost  ceased  begins 
again  more  violently  than  before,  because  this  third  fusible  layer 
is  more  easily  boiled,  and  harder  to  freeze  than  the  other  two 
below  it.  A  red  heat  scarce  sufficient  to  raise  iron  and  slag  by 
expanding  the  solid,  throws  a  broken  crust  hither  and  thither 
by  the  help  of  steam  and  boiling  water.  The  solid  layers  which 


FUSION  AND  FREEZING — METAL  AND   SLAG.  3C5 

heat  the  water,  cool,  contract  upon  hotter  layers  within,  break, 
and  let  water  sink  deeper  to  hotter  regions  below.  Steam  rushes 
up,  exploding,  hissing,  sputtering,  scattering  broken  frag- 
ments, tossing  heavy  plates  into  the  air,  bursting  chambers, 
grinding  edges,  rounding  corners,  driving  jets  of  boiling  water 
high  into  the  air,  and  filling  it  with  rolling  clouds  and 
whirling  drops.  At  this  stage  it  is  hard  to  see  what  is  going 
on,  but  there  is  a  violent  commotion ;  and  the  igneous  crusts 
are  broken  up,  and  partly  ground  by  steam-power,  which 
gradually  wanes,  while  the  iron  parts  with  the  charge  of  ray- 
power,  which  came  with  it  out  of  the  furnace,  out  of  the  coals, 
out  of  the  sun,  if  George  Stephenson  guessed  right,  or  out  of 
the  cooling  earth.  One  very  common  occurrence  about  this 
stage  is  the  sinking  in  of  the  roofs  of  chambers.  The  iron  con- 
tracts, and  the  slag  roofs  fall  down.  The  decreasing  action  is 
not  regular  ;  it  diminishes  quickly  at  first,  very  slowly  and 
gradually  at  last,  in  proportion  to  the  '  energy'  expended. 
The  amount  of  ray-force  spent  on  clouds  of  steam,  in  heaps 
of  sediment,  or  in  hot  fountains,  is  deducted  from  the  store  in 
the  mass  of  hot  iron.  Boiling  springs  sink  lower  and  lower, 
those  which  spouted  two  feet  rise  only  one,  and  after  a  time 
only  rise  a  few  inches  ;  next  they  well  up  slowly  amongst  the 
ashes  ;  and  at  last  the  water  circulates  quietly  as  warm  water 
does  in  any  vessel,  as  air  does  in  any  room.  This  hot-spring 
period  lasts  for  many  hours.  There  is  no  visible  light,  no 
violent  action,  but  the  power  is  not  all  spent,  and  it  was 
bright  heat  at  first.  At  this  dull  heat  ether  boils  furiously, 
and  the  iron  below  still  has  work  in  hand. 

If  the  water  gets  to  the  lower  side  of  a  large  ingot,  so  as 
to  cool  that  side  first,  the  whole  mass  bends  upwards  like  a 
bow  ;  and  all  the  upper  formations  rise  upon  the  arch,  steam- 
jets,  hot  springs,  and  all.  Sometimes  an  ingot  a  foot  thick 
breaks  short  off  like  a  carrot  from  this  uneven  contraction 


360  UPHEAVAL — RAYS  AND   WEIGHT. 

and  expansion,  and  so  makes  a  '  fault.'  It  is  the  case  of  the 
frosted  glass  over  again,  but  on  a  larger  scale.  When  both 
sides  are  at  one  heat,  the  bow  unbends,  and  the  mound  sinks 
down  slowly.  When  the  upper  surface  cools,  the  ends  curl 
up  like  a  shaving  of  whalebone  laid  in  a  warm  hand,  or  like  a 
flat  fish  laid  in  a  frying-pan.  No  matter  what  the  substance 
may  be,  expansion  and  contraction  work  the  engine,  and  the 
same  forces  must  work  that  larger  engine — the  earth's  igneous 
crust — if  there  be  one  under  sedimentary  rocks.  Thus  at  the 
end  of  a  short  time  a  bright  stream,  flowing  like  a  river,  and 
scattering  drops  like  a  spray  of  light,  is  changed  into  rigid, 
solid  crusts,  of  metal  fit  for  human  use,  and  of  slag  only  fit 
for  the  cinder-heap.  The  mass  stands  in  water  thick  with 
sediment,  which  falls  in  time — a  small  geological  formation  of 
fusible  sedimentary  beds  under  water.  In  frosty  weather  the 
water  freezes  in  turn,  and  in  very  cold  weather  that  crust 
splits  like  the  other  two.  A  stranger  who  had  not  seen  these 
changes  take  place,  might  find  it  hard  to  believe  in  the  wild 
vagaries  played  by  hard,  cold,  ugly,  wrinkled,  dark-gray  solids, 
resting  in  their  cinder-heaps  now,  but  lissom  and  active, 
strong  and  bright,  in  their  vigorous  hot  youth,  when  their 
bright  faces  were  smooth  and  soft,  before  they  froze. 

When  iron  ingots  and  plates  of  slag  thus  cooled  are  broken 
up,  the  shape  inside  is  explained  by  the  movements  observed, 
and  shapes  outside  can  be  referred  to  them.  The  silver  plate 
was  a  costly  toy,  and  can  only  be  seen  to  work  at  a  few 
places  ;  slag-plates  are  piled  in  hills  and  cost  nothing. 

Lanarkshire  roads  are  made  of  broken  slag.  In  such  a 
path,  at  a  hall  door,  the  writer  gathered  the  first-fruits  of  this 
branch  of  education,  and  there  he  made  his  first  collection  of 
igneous  rock-forms.  Any  other  child  may  do  as  much,  and 
the  wisest  of  philosophers  may  pick  up  knowledge  in  the 
path  which  leads  to  the  nearest  furnace  whence  light  shines. 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

SPARKS — VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES. 

IF  a  reader  who  has  followed  thus  far,  or  who  happens  upon 
this  page  by  chance,  will  look  back  to  the  "  contents,"  he  will 
find  that  this  hunt  has  run  a  ring.  Those  who  have  followed  all 
the  way — if  such  there  be — have  been  to  Spain,  Italy,  Greece, 
Switzerland,  Scandinavia,  Spitzbergen,  Iceland,  Greenland, 
and  America ;  all  round  the  British  Isles ;  high  up  in  the 
air,  and  down  through  water  into  the  earth,  with  miners  and 
geologists  for  guides.  The  quarry  was  viewed  in  the  last 
chapter,  and  it  went  to  ground  in  the  cinder-heap  whence  it 
was  started.  The  quarry  was  terrestrial  light,  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  follow  it  deeper  by  any  direct  road. 

If  a  geologist  could  crack  this  little  round  world  on  which 
he  lives,  and  study  first  the  whole  outside  of  the  shell,  and 
then  the  kernel  and  the  core,  within  and  without ;  if  he  could 
cut  it  in  two,  like  a  roll  or  an  orange,  a  stick  or  a  bone,  and 
study  a  whole  section  at  once ;  if  he  could  first  watch  the 
growth  of  it,  and  then  crack  it  like  a  pebble,  he  would  under- 
stand the  structure  better  than  he  does.  A  geologist  can  do 
nothing  of  the  sort ;  but  every  geologist  wants  to  know  what 
the  inside  of  the  world  is  like,  in  order  that  he  may  the  better 
understand  the  outside  of  it.  A  great  many  able  men  have 
tried  to  crack  that  nut.  In  November  (5th  and  6th)  1863,  the 


368  SPARKS. 

Newcastle  Daily  Journal  published  a  clever  summary  of  scien- 
tific speculations  on  this  subject,  and  a  woodcut  of  a  section 
of  the  globe,  according  to  the  view  taken  by  T.  P.  Barkas,  the 
writer  whose  signature  is  attached  to  the  paper  in  question. 
The  cut  represents  a  hollow  shell.  The  list  of  the  famous 
men  who  have  tried  to  solve  the  problem  is  very  imposing, 
arid  it  includes  teachers  and  masters  of  many  branches  of 
knowledge ;  but  their  opinions  differ  as  much  as  the  several 
ways  by  which  they  sought  to  reach  their  point.  In  this 
mocking  age  nothing  is  complete  without  a  ludicrous  element ; 
so,  to  relieve  the  darkness  of  the  earth's  interior,  and  lighten  a 
heavy  subject,  Captain  Symmes  is  introduced  to  play  merry- 
man  amongst  grave  and  reverend  actors  on  the  world's  gravest 
stage. 

"  He  believed  that  the  interior  of  th,e  earth  was  peopled, 
and  he  invited  Baron  Humboldt  and  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  to 
descend  with  him  into  the  subterranean  recess  by  an  immense 
hole  which  he  fancied  existed  in  latitude  82°  north,  from 
which  the  polar  light  was  supposed  to  emanate." 

Baron  Humboldt  did  not  go;  but  he  says,  "According  to 
conclusions  based  upon  mere  analogies,  heat  probably  increases 
gradually  towards  the  centre." 

No  theory  ought  to  be  accepted  because  of  the  author's 
authority  ;  no  man's  theory  ought  to  be  ridiculed  till  it  has 
been  tested  and  found  absurd ;  but  Humboldt  is  a  better  guide 
than  Symmes  along  underground  footways,  which  lead  step 
by  step  from  experiment  to  conclusion,  like  ladders  which 
reach  from  point  to  point  in  a  deep  dark  mine.  One  leaps  in 
the  dark,  the  other  feels  his  way  cautiously.  Parry,  Scoresby, 
Kane,  and  others,  have  been  far  enough  north  to  prove  that 
Symmes  was  wrong ;  all  experiments  yet  tried  confirm  the 
view  taken  by  Humboldt.  A  student  who  will  not  leap  to 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.  3G9 

conclusions,  and  cannot  keep  pace  with  philosophers  whose 
thoughts  are  mounted  on  well-built  scientific  cars,  must  take 
his  own  way,  and  do  the  best  he  can  to  reach  his  point.  The 
quarry  pursued  was  Light,  and  it  was  run  to  ground  where  it 
cannot  be  followed  ;  but  a  student  in  search  of  knowledge 
may  watch  a  spark  flying  out  of  a  caldron  of  fluid  iron  :  he 
may  study  that  to  begin  with,  and  strive  to  advance  indirectly, 
step  by  step.  One  who  does  not  mind  dust  and  ashes,  and 
the  risk  of  burned  fingers,  may  fill  his  pockets  with  luminous 
drops  of  metal  and  slag  at  any  furnace,  and  crack  these  like 
nuts  at  home. 

Some  years  ago  a  great  number  of  sparks  were  caught  fly- 
ing, and  others  were  sifted  out  of  the  dust  on  the  floor  of  a 
smelting-house  in  Greenock,  to  the  great  wonder  of  the  work- 
men, who  could  not  make  out  "  what  the  gentleman  wanted  wi' 
that  dirt."  The  "  gentleman"  had  just  returned  from  Iceland, 
where  he  had  been  with  the  purpose  of  studying  forms  which 
result  from  the  mechanical  action  of  terrestrial  heat  and  light, 
and  he  wanted  to  compare  certain  round  stones  with  frozen 
sparks  ;  he  had  come  to  fill  his  pockets  with  dust,  in  order  to 
gain  light  amongst  his  old  friends — intelligent  Scotch  work- 
men— and  at  his  old  haunts,  beside  furnace  fires.  The  round 
stones  were  gathered  with  the  notion  that  the  inside  of  a  round 
world,  which  is  hot  within  and  hard  without,  and  travelling 
through  cold  space,  might  be  like  the  inside  of  luminous 
sparks  of  iron  and  slag,  and  larger  drops  of  lava,  which  shone 
like  stars  while  they  flew  through  the  air  at  first,  and  only 
ceased  to  shine  when  they  froze.  The  student  meant  to  com- 
pare all  these  with  meteorites,  to  test  his  theory  as  far  as  he 
was  able,  and  to  say  nothing  about  it  till  it  was  licked  into 
some  tangible  shape.  It  has  now  taken  the  shape  which  it 
wears  in  these  volumes,  and  readers  who  have  had  the  patience 

VOL.  II.  2  B 


370  SPARKS. 

to  follow  thus  far — if  such  there  be — may  now  judge  this  spark, 
which  was  sifted  out  of  dust  and  ashes,  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  first  step  in  the  comparison  was  to  make  the  frozen 
sparks  seem  equal  in  size  to  the  lava-drops ;  and  with  that 
end  in  view,  they  were  placed  under  a  microscope,  and  draw- 
ings made  from  them. 

Like  forms  have  been  found  upon  all  such  drops.  The 
surface  always  appears  to  be  dimpled  with  cups,  and  roughened 
with  projections  of  various  shapes  :  these  resemble  forms 
which  abound  upon  every  plate  of  slag ;  they  are  miniature 
copies  of  mounds  and  hollows  in  cast-iron,  from  which  sparks 
and  drops  were  thrown  while  the  iron  was  hot ;  they  are  like 
hills  and  hollows  which  may  be  seen  to  grow  on  freezing  iron 
and  slag  at  any  smelting-house ;  they  are  like  those  which 
were  seen  to  grow  upon  silver  at  Newcastle  and  elsewhere. 
In  one  case  cones  and  craters  are  on  the  shell  of  a  small 
spherical  mass ;  in  others  they  are  on  a  plane,  but  the  plane 
is  in  reality  a  portion  of  a  sphere  whose  centre  is  the  centre 
of  the  earth.  The  round  lava-stones  are  like  the  frozen  sparks. 
They  were  shot  out  of  cones  and  craters,  and  their  surfaces  are 
often  pitted  and  dimpled  and  roughened  with  miniature 
craters  and  cones,  which,  in  their  turn,  resemble  shapes  which 
abound  in  the  lavas,  and  in  the  large  mountains  of  Iceland, 
and  other  volcanic  regions.  The  outer  forms  bear  reference 
to  the  interior  of  the  frozen  sparks  and  "  volcanic  bombs ;"  the 
outer  shape  of  the  volcano  to  the  interior  of  the  earth.  They 
are  all  shapes  built  about  rays. 

The  history  of  "  volcanic  bombs"  may  be  learned  from 
passing  events.  In  February  1865  an  eruption  broke  out  in 
Sicily,  and  numerous  writers  have  described  what  they  saw 
there.  The  following  are  extracts  from  a  letter  published  in 
the  Scotsman  of  the  20th  February  1865  : — 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEOKITES.  371 

HOTEL  DELLA  CORONA,  CATANIA, 
Febniary  7,  1865. 

Having  just  witnessed  an  eruption  of  Mount  Etna,  I  think  a  short 
account  of  it  may  be  interesting  to  your  readers.  The  morning  of  the 
2d  was  ushered  in  by  a  terrific  thunderstorm  accompanied  with  torrents 
of  rain  and  hail.  But  intelligence  is  brought  us  that  Etna  is  in  full 
eruption  ;  that  the  lava  has  already  run  so  fast  and  so  far  that  the  road 
to  Catania  is  blocked  up  ;  that  thousands  of  peasants  have  fled  from 
their  home  in  terror  of  destruction  ;  and  that  a  war-vessel  has  left 
Messina,  carrying  the  Prefet  and  a  staff  of  engineers  to  the  scene,  with 
the  view  of  saving  life  and  property. 

It  is  almost  dark  before  we  reach  the  steep  zigzags  leading  up  from 
the  main  road  to  Taormina,  where  we  intend  to  sleep.  On  reaching  a 
sudden  turn,  we  see  in  the  clouds  a  long  undulating  line  of  red  light. 
It  is  the  lava-stream — Etna  outlined  with  a  pencil  of  living  fire.  And 
now  the  low  rumbling  of  the  still  distant  volcano  breaks  on  the  ear, 
mixed  up  with  the  peals  of  tlmnder,  which  continues  to  reverberate 
among  the  mountains.  As  the  night  deepens,  the  clouds  begin  to  clear 
away,  the  stream  of  lava  becomes  brighter,  and  the  light  emitted  from 
the  crater,  which  was  at  first  but  faintly  reflected  from  the  clouds  above, 
becomes  more  and  more  brilliant,  until  the  whole  sky  over  the  mountain 
glows  with  a  lurid  light.  Here  and  there  at  different  points  bright  jets 
of  flame  appear  for  a  few  minutes  and  then  vanish.  These,  we  suppose, 
arise  from  the  burning  of  trees  set  on  fire  by  the  lava  or  the  falling 
scoriae.  There  appear  to  be  six  craters  quite  distinct,  but  situated  near 
each  other.  From  all  these,  in  irregular  succession,  sometimes  from 
several  at  a  time,  there  are  incessant  discharges — huge  masses  of  red- 
hot  stones  and  scoriae  thrown  to  an  immense  height,  with  volumes  of 
steam  and  smoke  which  reflect  the  fires  from  the  red-hot  cauldron  below. 
The  glowing  smoke  flickers  in  the  breeze  as  if  it  were  flame,  and  through 
it  and  far  above  it,  with  the  naked  eye,  we  can  see  the  red-hot  stones 
mount  and  then  fall  slowly  back  into  the  abyss. 

I  regret  having  omitted  to  note  the  time  which  these  stones  took  to 
rise  and  fall,  as  that  might  have  given  an  approximate  idea  of  their 
size,  and  the  height  to  which  they  were  ejected.  But  Taormina  is  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  miles  distant  in  a  direct  line  from  the  crater,  so  that 
the  stones,  to  be  seen  at  all,  must  have  been  enormous.  Comparing  the 
height  to  which  they  seemed  to  rise  with  the  appearance  which  such  a 


372  SPARKS. 

building  as  St.  Paul's  when  so  far  removed  might  present,  it  could  not 
be  less  than  1000  feet. 

Leaving  Taormina  at  nine,  we  drive  to  Mascali.  The  weather  is  a 
complete  contrast  to  that  of  yesterday — bright,  clear,  and  calm.  As  we 
pass  along  among  almond  trees  in  full  blossom,  through  orange  and 
lemon  groves  glowing  with  their  golden  fruit,  the  ground  carpeted  with 
young  flax  of  the  brightest  green,  and  see  the  labourers  following  their 
peaceful  occupations  in  the  fields,  it  is  difficult  to  realise  the  idea  that 
within  a  few  miles  a  volcano  is  breaking  up  the  crust  of  the  earth 
and  spreading  a  deluge  of  liquid  fire  over  its  surface.  A  walk  of  three 
hours  over  a  used  but  not  a  difficult  road  brings  us  to  the  lava.  As  we 
approach,  the  rumbling  sound  from  the  eruption  becomes  louder  and 
louder  ;  but  as  the  sun  gains  power  and  brilliancy,  the  volcano  becomes 
invisible  to  the  eye.  A  faint  line  of  smoke  along  the  current  of  lava, 
and  a  dark  cloud  hanging  over  the  crater,  are  the  only  visible  signs 
which  he  gives  of  his  existence — signs  which,  if  met  with  on  a  Scotch 
mountain,  might  be  passed  by  as  arising  from  moor  burning.  The 
stream  of  lava  which  we  visited  is  said  to  have  flowed  from  six  to  eight 
miles.  The  lava,  under  the  influence  of  the  bright  sunshine,  appears  to 
consist  of  blackened  scoriae  or  cinders.  It  is  only  through  the  chinks, 
or  where  the  surface  is  displaced  by  a  rolling  block,  that  the  fire  is 
visible.  The  current,  where  confined  in  a  narrow  gorge,  flows  rapidly — 
that  is  to  say,  at  the  rate  of  from  two  to  eight  feet  in  the  minute,  accord- 
ing to  the  steepness  of  the  descent.  On  the  flatter  ground,  where  there 
is  more  obstruction,  and  where  the  stream  spreads  out  to  a  great  breadth, 
the  progress  is  invisible  to  the  eye.  As  in  a  glacier,  there  is  a  more 
rapid  flow  in  the  middle  than  at  the  sides,  for  these  sometimes  seemed 
to  be  quite  fast,  while  the  motion  in  the  centre  is  distinctly  perceptible. 
The  portion  of  the  current  which  is  flowing  towards  Mascali,  has  a 
breadth  of  some  two  or  three  hundred  yards,  and  a  depth  on  its  sloping 
front  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet.  It  may  be  approached  with- 
out much  inconvenience,  and  with  perfect  safety  ;  for  although  large 
masses  are  constantly  rolling  down,  there  is  always  time  enough  to 
escape  before  they  reach  the  bottom.  Men  were  busy  carrying  off  the 
beams  of  the  roof,  with  the  other  timber  work,  and  filling  up  the  cisterns 
with  stones.  When  the  lava  conies  in  contact  with  a  large  body  of  water, 
dangerous  explosions  take  place  through  its  rapid  conversion  into  steam. 
The  point  which  the  lava  has  reached  I  calculate  to  be  about  2400  feet 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.  373 

above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  crater  some  1500  feet  higher,  or  one- 
third  of  the  way  up  the  mountain.  We  followed  the  stream  towards  its 
source,  until  we  were  driven  off  by  the  heat,  the  blinding  dust,  and  the 
sulphureous  smoke.  Of  the  three,  the  dust  was  the  most  troublesome. 
Below  us  we  could  see  the  course  of  the  current  filling  up  the  hollows 
and  spreading  over  the  natter  surfaces  like  a  huge  black  glacier,  while 
above,  confined  in  a  narrow  gorge,  it  came  tumbling  over  a  precipice  in 
a  dark  mass,  relieved  by  streaks  of  fire.  We  waited  until  night  set  in, 
when  the  lava  began  to  glow  again,  and  soon  assumed  the  appearance  it 
presented  from  Taormina  of  a  river  or  cascade  of  fire.  On  what  seems 
now  to  be  a  glowing  mass  of  living  fire  men  were  walking  not  two 
hours  ago,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  some  trees  which  had  been  swept 
down  by  the  torrent.  One  tree  we  saw  carried  on  shore  by  two  men 
who  had  stood  on  the  lava  while  they  cut  it  in  two.  A  small  prize  for 
running  such  a  risk  !  They  returned  for  a  second,  but  were  driven  off 
by  the  heat  and  suffocating  fumes.  An  Italian  engineer  who  was  on  the 
mountain  took  some  rough  measurements,  and  calculates  that  the  crater 
has  already  discharged  eighty  million  cubic  metres  of  solid  matter,  that 
the  progress  of  the  different  branches  added  together  would  amount  to 
seven  metres  per  minute,  and  the  length  of  the  whole  to  forty-five 
English  miles.  I  consider  the  estimate  of  the  distance  too  high  ;  and 
as  the  eruption  began  only  four  days  ago,  it  does  not  seem  to  tally  with 
the  other  calculations. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  the  Times  of  February  24, 
1865 :— 

Letters  from  Sicily,  in  the  Malta  papers,  give  some  further 
particulars  of  the  eruption,  and  the  progress  it  has  made.  A 
letter  from  Catania,  on  the  12th  inst.,  thus  speaks  of  it  : — 

"  The  mountain  indulges  in  a  constant  roaring,  to  which  we  are  gradu- 
ally becoming  accustomed,  but  which  at  first  kept  me  awake  at  night,  and 
this  at  a  distance  of  some  thirty  miles  ;  so  you  can  imagine  what  it  must 
have  been  on  the  spot  which  I  went  to  (Monte  Crisimo),  situated  at  about 
two  miles  N.E.  of  the  new  crater." 

Another  letter  of  the  same  date  from  the  same  place 
says  : — 


374  SPARKS. 

"  Two  nights  ago  \ve  could  not  sleep  for  the  noise,  the  wind  blowing 
from  the  north.  An  eye-witness  tells  me  there  were  eleven  streams  of 
lava,  mostly  small." 

The  following  are  extracts  of  other  letters  from  Sicily 
relating  to  the  eruption  : — 

"  Aci,  Feb.  7. 

"  The  lava  issues  from  four  mouths  on  the  south  side,  and  varies 
every  day  in  the  direction  it  takes.  If  the  eruption  continues  it  will  do 
more  damage  than  that  of  1859." 

"Giarre,  Feb.  10. 

"  Yesterday  I  visited  Piedimonte,  out  of  curiosity,  and  observed  that 
the  right  branch  of  liquid  lava  was  advancing  with  the  extraordinary 
velocity  of  about  a  mile  and  a  half  an  hour.  Great  damage  has  already 
been  effected  by  the  lava.  At  the  present  moment,  while  I  am  writing, 
all  the  windows  of  the  house  I  am  living  in  have  been  broken  by  con- 
cussion, which  was  accompanied  by  earthquake.  The  noise  is  like  a 
continued  cannonading,  with  a  discharge  from  time  to  time  of  1 00  guns 
all  at  once." 

Another  letter  says  : — 

"  All  the  world  is  busy  talking  and  speculating  on  the  effects  of  an 
eruption  of  Etna  which  broke  out  on  the  north  side  of  the  mountain, 
about  ten  days  ago,  at  a  place  called  Monte  Frumenti.  It  is  very  violent 
and  threatens  to  do  much  damage,  as  the  streams  of  lava  run  east  and 
north,  and  are  progressing  with  great  rapidity.  I  went  up  with  a  party 
to  see  it,  and  certainly  it  is  one  of  the  grandest  spectacles  I  ever  beheld. 
There  is  an  incessant  rumbling  noise,  with,  every  now  and  then,  loud 
explosions  resembling  the  discharge  of  heavy  artillery,  when  showers  of 
red-hot  stones  are  thrown  to  a  great  height  into  the  air,  and  either  fall 
back  into  one  of  the  craters  (for  there  are  three  of  them  in  activity),  or 
are  carried  away  by  the  streams  of  molten  rock  which  are  constantly  flow- 
ing. It  is  certainly  one  of  the  finest  sights  I  ever  witnessed  ;  all  other 
things  appear  tame  and  commonplace  when  compared  with  it.  Shortly 
after  the  party  I  was  with  arrived  at  the  summit  near  the  craters  a  dense 
fog  came  on,  and  we  were  compelled  to  bivouac  for  the  night,  as  the 
guides  refused  to  undertake  the  responsibility  of  conducting  us  down 
until  daylight  in  the  morning  ;  and  M'hen  we  did  descend  we  were  con- 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.  375 

vinced  of  the  propriety  of  their  decision,  as  the  road,  which  we  had 
passed  over  in  the  dark  without  apprehension,  appeared  appalling  when 
seen  by  daylight  the  following  morning.  From  our  bivouac,  6000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  scene  was  magnificent  in  the  highest  degree. 
The  constant  thunder  of  explosions  every  two  or  three  minutes,  and  the 
streams  of  lava  running  down,  and,  every  now  and  then,  setting  fire  to 
trees  that  stood  in  their  way,  was  a  sight  well  worth  the  hardship  of  a 
night's  exposure  on  the  hill-side.  Some  of  the  streams  of  lava  are  a  mile 
wide,  and  have  extended  seven  or  eight  miles  already ;  as  yet  the  mischief 
has  not  been  much,  as  the  progress  of  the  devastating  flood  has  been  con- 
fined to  the  mountainous  regions ;  but  if  it  once  descends  to  the  cultivated 
parts,  the  damage  will  be  incalculable.  Government  is  doing  all  it  can, 
by  sending  troops  to  assist  the  people  in  removing  their  goods,  pumping 
out  the  water  from  the  wells  and  cisterns  to  prevent  explosions,  etc. ; 
but  it  is  a  sad  sight  to  see  the  country  devastated  and  overwhelmed  by 
this  fiery  torrent,  and  left  desolate  for  ages.  Happy  are  the  countries 
that  are  free  from  such  calamities." 

With  these  fresh  descriptions,  and  an  ordinary  power  of 
comparing  great  things  with  small,  let  any  one  visit  the 
nearest  glass-house  on  a  day  when  the  metal  is  melting  and 
boiling.  All  that  is  so  well  described  in  Sicily  may  be  seen 
in  miniature  through  the  opening  in  the  retort — the  liquid 
fire,  the  bubbling  craters,  the  hot  whirling  projectiles.  Let 
any  one  watch  the  sights  and  sounds  about  a  blast-furnace, 
to  which  attention  was  called  in  the  last  chapter,  and  the 
action  of  furnace  heat  and  of  terrestrial  light  will  seem  to  be 
identical  in  character,  if  different  in  degree.  The  lava, 
freezing  as  it  flows  from  the  base  of  the  mountain,  throws  off 
a  spray  of  liquid  projectiles — "  sparks,"  which  rise  1000  feet, 
and  freeze  as  they  whirl  and  fly.  Like  them,  and  like  any 
other  freezing  fluid,  the  lava-stream  freezes  on  the  surface, 
and  the  lava-ice  records  the  rate  of  cooling  by  its  shape.  In 
Sicily  it  is  irregular ;  in  Iceland,  where  old  lava-floods  were 
larger,  the  crust  is  more  compact — more  like  a  crust  on  slag, 


376  SPARKS. 

* 

which  cooled  slowly.  The  sparks  are  alike,  though  various 
in  size  and  in  shape.  They  shine  as  they  fly ;  some  burst 
like  rockets,  and  scatter  a  shower  of  golden  fire,  others  shoot 
and  shine  and  fall,  freeze  and  glow,  and  darken  on  the  floor ; 
and  when  they  are  found,  these  sparks  are  shaped  like  little 
worlds.  They  are  frozen  drops. 

At  Hraundal,  in  Iceland,  a  crater  is  at  the  upper  end  of  a 
glen.  It  is  at  the  source  of  an  old  lava-stream,  which  flowed 
down  a  hollow  for  some  miles,  and  froze  into  clinkers.  The 
hill  may  be  about  100  feet  high,  and  it  is  a  perfect  "  cone  of 
eruption," — a  truncated  cone,  with  a  funnel-shaped  hollow  in 
the  top.  The  colour  is  a  dusty  brick  red,  and  it  stands  in  a 
broken-down  crater  of  larger  size,  and  of  a  different  make  and 
colour.  The  central  mound  is  a  pile  of  round  stones,  dust, 
and  fragments.  Some  of  the  stones  are  as  big  as  a  man's 
head;  others  about  the  size  of  oranges,  potatoes,  and  nuts;  and 
most  of  them  are  distorted  spheroids,  egg-shaped  or  discoidal. 
They  are  exceedingly  hard  and  tough,  and  very  heavy.  It 
took  hard  blows  with  a  heavy  hammer  to  crack  these  nuts  ; 
but  many  were  broken  on  the  spot,  and  a  pocketful  of  speci- 
mens were  carried  during  a  long  day's  ride,  and  brought  home. 
A  black  specimen  was  brought  home  from  Myvatn  the 
year  before,  and  these  are  the  stones  which  had  to  be  com- 
pared with  furnace  sparks. 

Because  these  stones  were  drops  of  lava,  which  cooled  by 
radiation  while  revolving  in  free  air,  it  is  certain  that  the 
outside  cooled  first.  The  first  crust  froze,  and  shrank  about  a 
fluid  or  viscous  hot  core.  The  Myvatn  specimen  was  some- 
what like  a  split  truffle,  for  the  outer  crusts  tore,  as  freezing 
slag-crusts  commonly  do  under  like  conditions.  A  second 
crust  formed  within  the  first,  and  a  third  under  it,  and  then 
all  three  were  torn,  and  the  hot  core  bulged  out.  The  "  faults" 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.  377 

remain,  and  their  sides  show  the  edges  of  three  crusts,  which 
seem  to  have  been  soft,  for  they  bulged  sideways  into  the 
rent.  These  three  crusts  differ  in  colour,  though  they  are 
alike  in  structure;  and  in  this  they  resemble  thicker  lava- 
crusts,  and  shattered  cliffs,  amongst  which  this  lava-ball  was 
found.  A  tap  with  a  hammer  broke  this  specimen,  shell  and 
kernel,  and  so  revealed  the  inner  structure  of  it.  It  was  shot 
out  by  the  earth's  artillery — by  a  radiating  force,  which  pro- 
jected it  from  a  tube  with  a  chamber  ;  it  was  shaped  by  heat 
and  cold,  by  expansion  and  contraction,  by  forces  acting  in 
opposite  directions,  from  within  and  from  without,  while  it 
was  whirling  and  flying  through  the  air ;  it  is  a  work  made 
in  obedience  to  the  code  of  laws  which  seem  to  apply  to  all 
known  objects  in  nature  ;  it  may  be  shaped  like  larger  works. 
The  seedling  may  be  like  the  old  plant ;  the  structure  of  this 
frozen  drop  may  be  like  that  of  the  world  from  which  it 
sprang.  Iron  sparks  are  like  it ;  cups  and  cones,  faults  and 
fissures,  dykes  and  craters,  like  those  of  Iceland,  are  on  the 
outside  of  it.  Point  a  common  telescope  at  the  moon,  and  the 
same  forms  reappear  upon  the  surface  of  a  star  which  shines 
by  reflected  light,  and  seems  to  be  no  larger  than  one  of  the 
iron  sparks  under  a  microscope. 

Sparks  and  bombs  resemble  each  other  in  their  structure. 
They  all  have  crusts  and  cores,  and  the  whole  mass  is  per- 
vaded by  tubes  and  open  chambers,  of  which  many  communi- 
cate with  each  other,  and  some  with  openings  in  the  outer 
shell.  The  outer  crusts  of  broken  specimens  are  built  upon 
lines  which  radiate  from  within  ;  joints  and  vertical  fractures 
in  the  crusts  all  bear  reference  to  points  within  the  mass. 
Produced  in  one  direction  these  bines  converge,  in  the  other 
direction  they  diverge.  The  crusts  surround  a  core  as  a  nut 
shell  surrounds  the  kernel,  and  the  outer  layers  shell  off. 


378  SPARKS. 

They  are  like  the  earth's  igneous  crust,  as  seen  in  cliffs  ;  they 
break  vertically  and  also  horizontally.  The  kernel  of  the 
stone  is  shaped  like  a  sponge,  with  tubular  branching,  irregu- 
lar passages,  and  spherical  hollows,  built  about  lines  which 
radiate  as  heat  did,  from  points  within  the  mass  outwards. 
But  all  the  rays  are  bent  in  one  direction ;  like  the  arrows 
in  the  cut,  p.  28,  vol.  i.,  or  the  curves  at  p.  473,  vol.  i.,  and  in 
the  map  at  the  end  of  that  volume.  All  the  specimens  from 
Hraundal  have  crusts  with  irregular  spongy  cores,  built  about 
centres  of  radiation  and  motion.  After  trying  to  copy  sections 
by  various  unsatisfactory  devices,  the  stone  itself  was  tried  as 
a  type.  Slices  were  made  equal  in  thickness  to  a  printer's 
block  ;  they  were  inked  and  pressed,  and  here  is  the  result. 

These  shapes  tell  of  expansion  within  and  pressure 
without,  and  of  rotation  ;  the  mass  shone  while  it  was  form- 
ing, and  ceased  to  shine  when  the  crust  had  formed  and 
cooled,  and  such  masses  whirl  as  they  fly.  The  first  frozen 
shell  was  filled  with  fluid  "or  viscous  lava,  and  with  vapours 
which  shaped  hollows  in  the  plastic  mass  and  escaped  through 
them  to  holes  in  the  outer  crust.  The  last  of  the  imprisoned 
vapour  was  caught  on  its  way  out,  the  prisons  took  the  shape 
of  the  prisoners,  and  some  of  them  now  are  crystals,  which 
forced  the  prison-walls  to  take  angular  shapes.  Surely  this 
miniature  geology  may  grow.  When  furnace  sparks  and  vol- 
canic bombs  agree  so  well,  a  student  may  venture  one  more 
step  on  the  ladder  which  has  led,  step  by  step,  to  knowledge 
and  to  light. 

As  a  very  eloquent,  able  speaker  is  apt  to  say,  "  Three 
courses  are  open"  to  every  student.  One  is  to  follow  some 
beaten  path,  and  never  to  venture  out  of  it ;  to  choose  a 
leader  and  follow  him,  pacing  gravely  over  the  same  old 
ground  every  day,  and  learning  every  inch  of  it.  That  school 
of  peripatetics  is  numerous,  for  the  ways  of  these  scholars  are 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.         379 

SECTIONS  OF  VOLCANIC  BOMBS,  FROM  HRAUNDAL  IN  ICELAND. — Printed  from  the  Stones. 


No.  2. 

No.  1  is  from  a  section  made  at  the  sup- 
posed equator  of  a  flattened  spheroidal  bomb. 
The  whole  rough  surface  of  it  is  pitted  with 
smooth  cups  : — miniature  craters,  of  which 
many  end  in  tubes.  As  shown  in  the  sec- 
tion, many  of  these  ducts  communicate  with 
chambers  in  the  crust.  Of  these  some  are 
associated  witli  rows  of  small  chambers,  and 
with  long  irregular  passages  in  the  core,  which 
aim  at  or  meet  in  a  large  irregular  chamber 
near  the  centre.  The  ends  of  numerous  radi- 
ating and  branching  passages  are  seen  in  all  the 
sides  of  this  central  cavern.  The  inner  surfaces 
are  smooth,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  walls 
of  the  chamber,  and  of  its  radiating  systems 
of  ducts  and  passages,  were  plastic  when  they 
were  shaped  by  imprisoned  vapours  struggling 
to  escape  from  the  centre  to  the  surface.  Pits, 
cups,  tubes,  craters,  and  cones,  record  the 
escape  of  miniature  eruptions  through  the 
crust.  If  any  one  system  of  chambers  is  fol- 
lowed from  the  outside,  the  line  traced  is  not 
a  straight  line,  but  a  curved  spoke  bending 
backwards.  That  form  records  the  direction 
in  which  the  stone  revolved  about  its  axis. 

No.  2  is  from  a  similar  section  made  with  the  intention  of  cutting  an  axis  of  rotation 
at  right  angles.  The  surface  of  this  stone  is  not  so  much  pitted,  and  one  side  appears  to 
have  been  flattened,  as  by  a  blow.  The  section  shows  a  crust  with  fewer  chambers  near  the 
outside,  and  a  spongy  core.  The  same  arrangement  of  the  materials  about  curved  rays  is 
apparent.  From  their  structure  these  two  stones  revolved  in  the  same  direction,  right 
side  down  the  page.  Part  of  the  crust  of  No.  2  split  off  in  the  process  of  cutting. 

No.  3  is  like  the  other  two  in  structure,  but  revolved  the  other  way. 


No.  3. 


380  SPARKS. 

easy  and  safe.  A  second  course  is  to  avoid  roads — to  scorn  open 
gates,  gaps,  and  bridges,  guides  and  leaders,  and  strive  to  be 
original.  That  is  a  brilliant,  dashing,  dangerous  course,  which 
may  lead  to  honour  or  to  failure.  Captain  Symmes  got  a 
heavy  fall  and  failed  when  he  made  a  guess,  scorned  experi- 
ment, and  took  a  header  into  the  earth.  The  middle  course, 
in  this  as  in  other  cases,  appears  to  be  safest  and  best.  It  is 
to  follow  the  best  attainable  paths  quietly  and  steadily  as  far 
as  possible,  with  the  best  guides  and  the  best  aids,  and  with 
the  best  comrades,  who  will  travel  towards  the  point  aimed 
at ;  and  when  the  wilderness  is  reached  at  last,  to  choose  a 
line  and  take  it,  and  go,  best  pace,  along  the  best  ground 
cautiously,  like  a  traveller  making  his  way  through  a  new 
country,  where  all  must  do  the  best  they  can  to  help  them- 
selves, for  lack  of  guides,  and  roads,  and  cars.  Humboldt 
got  to  his  point  and  gained  honour,  by  venturing  cautiously 
on  new  ground  when  he  had  followed  guides  and  roads  as 
far  as  they  would  lead.  In  illustration  of  these  three  methods 
of  study  a  writer  may  tell  a  story  against  himself  without 
offence. 

Some  years  ago,  after  a  trip  to  Iceland,  it  was  agreed  that 
a  joint  book  should  be  written,  and  one  section  of  it  was  to 
be  written  by  this  hand.  With  a  head  full  of  the  subject,  the 
owner  of  head  and  hand  set  out  from  Edinburgh  for  the  Carron 
Ironworks,  intending  to  watch  the  pranks  of  molten  stone,  as 
a  key  to  the  forms  of  old  lavas  and  volcanoes  in  Iceland.  A 
heavy  cloud  had  passed  over  a  clear  sky  the  day  before,  and 
a  loud  clap  of  thunder  had  been  heard.  On  getting  into  the 
guard's  van  to  smoke  in  quiet,  it  somehow  transpired  that  a 
"  thunder-bolt  had  fallen  in  a  field  about  half-way  to  Glasgow." 
It  so  happened  that  the  guard,  as  he  said,  was  cognizant  of  the 
fall  of  a  meteorite  somewhere  in  England.  It  fell  through  the 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS— METEORITES.  381 

roof  of  a  barn,  and  buried  itself  in  the  clay  floor  ;  it  was  dug 
out,  and  it  was  so  hot  that  the  workmen  pitched  it  into  a 
pond,  where,  so  far  as  the  guard  knew,  it  remained.  This 
guard  had  spoken  to  the  guard  of  another  train,  who  had  seen 
this  new  "  thunder-bolt"  fall  while  he  was  passing,  and  it  was 
still  blazing  when  the  morning  train  passed.  Of  all  things  in 
the  world,  or  out  of  it,  a  meteorite  was  the  one  thing  wanted 
to  compare  with  volcanic  bombs  and  furnace  sparks,  and 
complete  the  chapter ;  and  here,  as  it  appeared,  was  an 
authentic  hot  aerolite  blazing  within  a  few  miles.  Of  course, 
it  must  be  got  at  any  cost.  The  friendly  guard  made  the 
ticket  all  right,  and  from  his  box  we  saw  a  tall  flame,  ten  feet 
high  at  least,  blazing  in  the  field  where  the  lightning  had  been 
seen  to  fall.  It  rose  from  a  hole  in  the  earth,  about  which 
fresh  turf  was  scattered,  and  a  great  deal  of  water  was  flowing 
out  of  the  ground.  The  writer  is  perfectly  well  aware  that  he 
will  never  "  set  the  Thames  on  fire"  himself,  and  he  has  little 
hope  of  seeing  that  feat  accomplished.  To  raise  such  a  blaze 
out  of  water  did  seem  beyond  the  power  even  of  a  thunder- 
bolt ;  but  water  decomposed  and  recomposed  makes  the  oxy- 
hydrogen  blow-pipe  and  one  of  the  strongest  of  fires.  There 
was  the  flame — a  fact  to  be  accounted  for  somehow.  "  Three 
courses  were  open  :"  to  rest  content  with  the  information  and 
leave  the  facts  unexplained ;  to  leap  to  a  conclusion  and  hire 
a  lot  of  men  to  dig  out  the  meteorite ;  or  to  go  to  the  place 
and  investigate.  It  seemed  best  to  get  out  at  the  next  station 
and  walk  back  along  the  known  road  to  the  field  ;  then  to 
clamber  through  a  gap  which  was  seen  in  the  hedge,  and  see 
what  was  to  be  seen  at  the  spot.  The  point  was  reached  at 
the  cost  of  a  wet  walk  of  some  miles  and  a  few  scratches. 
There  was  the  blaze  sure  enough ;  a  tall  fact  ten  feet  high,  roar- 
ing ;  and  at  the  base  of  it  water  was  welling  furiously  out  of  a 


382  SPARKS. 

clay-pit,  for  all  the  world  like  a  boiling  spring  in  Iceland.  A 
very  simple  experiment  extinguished  the  aerolite  theory :  the 
water  was  quite  cold  to  the  touch.  "  A  blower  of  coal-gas  had 
been  fired  by  the  lightning."  That  was  a  jump,  and  a  fall  was 
the  result :  the  steady  school  stayed  at  home ;  the  middle 
course  found  out  the  truth.  Leaving  fire  and  water  to  fight 
their  battle,  the  wet  traveller  went  to  the  nearest  house  and 
asked  an  old  woman  when  the  lightning  lit  the  gas.  "  Od, 
man,"  she  said,  "  it  wasna  thunner  ava ;  it  was  jeest  aiie 
of  our  lads  that  fired  it  wi'  a  match."  The  traveller  told  his 
fool's  errand  to  the  old  dame,  who  sagely  remarked — "It's 
jeest  like  the  three  craws  ;"  and  then  he  trudged  on  through 
rain  and  mire  to  the  nearest  furnace,  which  happened  to  be  an 
old  haunt  in  Lanarkshire.  There  he  found  what  he  set  out  to 
seek — sparks.  There  are  two  ways  of  viewing  this  story. 
Here  is  a  great  thing  beside  a  little  thing — a  meteor  and  a 
match — and  they  may  be  contrasted  or  compared.  Here  is 
a  big  fallacy  turned  into  a  little  fact,  and  a  man  mocking 
himself.  But  there  is  a  moral  in  the  tale  for  those  who  can 
see  it.  There  was  light  at  the  end  of  this  train,  if  it  were  but 
a  feeble  spark,  and  beyond  the  match  was  the  will  of  the  man 
who  lit  it.  Between  them  is  a  great  gulf  which  no  man  can 
leap  ;  for  no  philosopher  pretends  to  explain  how  a  man's  will 
moves  his  hand,  or  how  that  lad  thought  about  lighting  the 
coal-gas.  Beyond  them  lies  that  "  great  ocean  of  truth"  which 
the  greatest  of  men  have  seen  stretching  out  before  them  at 
the  end  of  their  earnest  lives.  Sparks  of  truth  were  worth 
all  the  trouble  of  the  trip  :  "  the  play  was  worth  the  candle," 
though  it  was  a  burlesque. 

Though  this  hunt  failed,  plenty  of  meteorites  may  be  seen 
at  the  British  Museum.  A  printed  catalogue  gives  a  list  of 
134  specimens  of  " aereolites,"  "meteorites  consisting  for  the 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.  383 

most  part  of  various  silicates  interspersed  with  isolated  part- 
icles of  nickeliferous  native  iron,  meteoric  pyrites  (troilite), 
&c.,"  which  are  exhibited  in  one  case.  Of  "  siderolites," 
"meteorites  consisting  of  nickeliferous  native  iron  in  a  more 
or  less  continuous  or  sponge-like  state  (with  schreibersite, 
&c.),  cavities  in  which  are  charged  with  silicates,  &c.,"  nine 
specimens  are  exhibited.  Of  "  aerosiderites,"  "  masses  of 
native  iron  generally  nickeliferous  and  containing  phosphides 
of  nickel  and  iron  (schreibersite),  carbon,  troilite,  &c,"  73 
specimens  are  shown.  These  represent  216  meteoric  falls, 
previous  to  August  1,  1863,  when  the  list  was  printed  by 
Professor  Maskelyne  of  the  mineral  department,  where  all 
these  may  be  seen.  The  heaviest  specimen  weighs  2800  Ibs. 
On  the  14th  of  May  1864  a  meteorite  fell  in  France. 
Mathieu  (de  la  Drome)  in  his  almanac  for  1865  gives  an 
account  of  the  fall,  and  a  paper  on  meteoric  stones  by  Louis 
Figuier  which  gives  a  great  deal  of  information  in  a  small 
space.  Chladni,  Arago,  Humboldt,  Herschel,  and  many  other 
eminent  men,  have  described  these  visitants  from  the  outer 
world,  and  in  spite  of  learned  slow  coaches,  who  long  refused 
to  accept  evidence,  it  is  now  admitted  that  from  early  historic 
times  small  planets  and  fragments  of  planets — bodies  which 
moved  in  space  in  obedience  to  the  laws  which  govern  the 
movements  of  the  earth,  and  other  members  of  the  solar 
system — have  passed  within  reach  of  the  earth's  attraction, 
and  have  fallen  as  stones  fell  in  1864.  The  received  opinion 
is  that  cold  masses,  attracted  by  the  earth,  are  heated  by  fric- 
tion while  passing  rapidly  through  the  earth's  atmosphere, 
and  shine  as  fire-balls  and  shooting  stars,  which  explode  and 
fall  as  hot  meteorites  at  last.  The  structure  of  many  speci- 
mens implies  that  the  whole  of  each  mass  was  fused  before 
it  cooled,  and  froze,  and  crystallised,  and  oxydised,  and  broke. 


384  SPARKS. 

Besides  the  collection  at  the  British  Museum,  about  1100 
specimens  are  preserved  in  museums  in  Europe,  and  the  num- 
ber is  constantly  increasing,  because  attention  is  directed  to 
this  curious  subject.  The  "  Bolide"  of  1864  was  seen  at  nearly 
the  same  hour  from  Paris  to  the  Pyrenees,  and  M.  Adolphe 
Brongniart,  who  happened  to  be  near  Gisors,  saw  the  meteor 
pass  from  west  to  east  at  15  to  20  degrees  above  the  horizon, 
and  disappear  without  noise.  At  Paris  and  at  Gisors  it  was 
seen  to  the  south.  In  the  south  it  was  seen,  at  eight  in  the 
evening,  a  globe  of  fire  as  big  as  the  moon,  followed  by  a 
train  of  luminous  sparks  ;  it  seemed  larger  as  it  approached 
the  ground ;  it  was  seen  to  burst  and  scatter  a  shower  of 
sparks,  leaving  a  small  white  cloud,  which  lasted  for  some 
minutes.  At  last,  the  inhabitants  of  a  region  between  Nerac 
and  Nohic  d'Orgueil  saw  a  fire-ball,  which  seemed  larger 
than  the  moon,  pass  over  their  heads,  revolving  on  its  axis  : 
it  cast  off  sparks  and  jets  of  white  vapour  in  every  direction, 
and  it  burst  like  a  shell  at  last,  scattering  shining  fragments, 
which  disappeared  behind  a  cloud.  An  observer  maintained 
that  after  the  explosion  of  brilliant  sparks  he  saw  a  dark  red 
globe  continue  its  course.  After  an  interval  of  from  five  to 
two  minutes,  a  loud  noise  was  heard  by  those  who  saw  the 
explosion.  A  shower  of  stones  followed,  and  fell  between  the 
villages  of  Nohic,  Orgueil,  and  Mont  Bequi.  They  were  hot : 
a  peasant  burned  his  fingers  with  one,  the  grass  was  singed  by 
others.  About  twenty  fragments  were  picked  up,  and  they 
were  covered  with  a  black  varnish  :  to  produce  a  like  glaze 
on  a  freshly-broken  surface  the  stone  had  to  be  heated  to  a 
white  heat.  This  meteorite  contains  about  5  per  cent  of  car- 
bon in  the  state  of  graphite,  and  many  soluble  salts.  It  was 
seen  by  so  many  observers  that  a  map  of  its  course  was  made, 
and  its  trajectory  calculated  by  M.  Lausedat,  Professor  of  the 


VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES.  385 

Ecole  Polytechnique.  Some  of  the  crumbs  which  fell  from 
this,  the  latest  of  meteorites,  are  shaped  like  bits  chipped 
from  the  crusts  of  volcanic  bombs.  They  are  chambered  and 
pierced  with  holes,  and  the  solid  breaks  in  two  directions, 
like  the  upper  layer  of  the  lava-crust  shown  in  the  cut  p. 
429,  vol.  i.  It  is  therefore  possible  to  compare  the  structure 
of  furnace  sparks,  volcanic  bombs,  and  small  planetary  bodies, 
and  upon  these  three  degrees  to  plant  a  theory  as  to  the 
structure  of  the  earth's  interior. 

The  great  majority  of  meteorites  are  mere  angular  frag- 
ments. 

One  specimen  at  the  British  Museum  is  composed  of  three 
fragments,  picked  up  separately,  and  at  considerable  distances 
from  each  other,  but  they  fit  and  form  a  portion  of  a  shell. 
In  this  they  resemble  fragments  chipped  off  volcanic  bombs. 
These  broken  bits  of  a  crust  are  covered  on  all  sides  by  a 
vitreous  glaze,  so  in  all  probability  they  travelled  far  after  the 
larger  mass  burst. 

A  great  many  have  marks  of  fusion  on  the  surface.  Many 
are  spongy. 

One  described  by  Pallas  in  1778,  at  St.  Petersburg, 
weighed  about  700  kilogrammes  ;  it  had  the  form  of  a  large 
bomb,  a  little  flattened,  and  partly  covered  with  a  rude  ochrous 
crust.  The  interior  was  made  of  soft  iron  full  of  holes,  like  a 
coarse  sponge.  These  holes  contain  grains  of  olivine  as  large 
as  peas.  This  seems  to  have  fallen  entire,  and  to  have  the 
structure  of  a  volcanic  bomb.  It  is  like  a  furnace  spark 
which  has  cooled  without  bursting. 

In  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington,  the  so- 
called  "  Ainsa"  meteorite  is  preserved.  It  weighs  1400  pounds, 
and  is  meteoric  iron,  with  specks  of  a  grayish  silicious  mine- 
ral enclosed.  It  is  now  in  the  form  of  a  great  rude  signet- 

VOL.  II.  2  C 


38G       SPARKS — VOLCANIC  BOMBS — METEORITES. 

ring,  but  it  seems  to  be  a  portion  of  a  hollow  sphere.  The 
hollow  is  irregular,  and  bulges  out  into  concave  recesses  like 
those  which  commonly  occur  in  iron  sparks  ;  like  those  which 
are  shown  in  sections  of  volcanic  bombs.  The  outer  surface 
is  spoiled,  and  if  ever  a  crust  surrounded  this  iron  core  all 
traces  of  it  have  disappeared.  This  remarkable  meteorite 
was  found  at  Senora,  in  the  Sierra  Madre,  in  California,  and 
it  was  used  for  many  years  as  a  public  anvil.  The  greatest 
diameter  is  41  inches.  The  woodcut  in  the  title-page  of  this 
volume  is  from  a  rough  pencil-sketch  made  at  Washington  in 
October  1864  In  some  respects  the  Ainsa  meteorite  is  like 
the  woodcut  in  the  paper  by  Mr.  Barkas  above  quoted. 

A  comparison  of  forms  in  hollow  spheres  of  hot  water ;  in 
sparks  thrown  off  by  hot  silver,  iron,  slag,  and  other  sub- 
stances ;  in  "bombs"  projected  from  terrestrial  volcanoes,  and 
in  meteorites  attracted  from  space ;  makes  it  probable  that  a 
flattened  spheroid  with  a  frozen  crust,  through  which  luminous 
fluids  and  hot  vapours  now  escape  in  all  directions,  may  now 
have  a  solid  chambered  spongy  core,  packed  about  bent  rays, 
and  about  a  centre  of  motion ;  made  of  materials  which  do 
not  easily  melt,  and  which  freeze  at  high  temperatures. 
According  to  astronomical  calculations  founded  on  the  earth's 
movements,  the  average  density  of  the  whole  mass  is  5.67, 
water  being  1.  The  specific  gravity  of  iron  is  7.7,  but  hollow 
iron  ships  float  in  water,  like  pumice-stones,  and  a  spongy  mass 
of  any  material  might  have  any  apparent  density  according  to 
its  structure  and  state  of  expansion.  Chambers  may  be  filled 
with  the  hot  fluids  and  gases  which  radiate  through  holes 
in  the  frozen  crust,  and  shine  with  terrestrial  light  when  they 
follow  the  paths  of  rays  and  strive  to  escape.  Jets  of  vapour 
and  fountains  of  sparks  so  escaped  from  the  fire-ball  of  1864, 
and  they  so  escape  from  shining  furnace  sparks. 


CHAPTEK   LV. 

TUBES  AND   SPRINGS. 

MAN  has  been  classed  as  the  cooking  animal,  so  most  men 
have  boiled  something ;  and  whoever  has  boiled  anything 
must  know  something  of  the  mechanical  force  of  heat. 

Hot  solids  melt,  fluids  become  vapours,  and  all  increase 
in  bulk  when  they  have  room  to  expand.  Softening  and  ex- 
pansion begin  near  a  source  of  heat,  and  spread  ;  the  heat 
spreads  and  radiates  as  light  does  from  a  luminous  point ;  and 
matter  moved  by  heat  also  spreads  and  radiates.  At  a  given 
distance  from  a  source  of  heat,  expansion  and  outward  move- 
ment in  any  material  come  to  an  end,  and  there  contraction 
begins  or  movement  stops.  Particles  attract  each  other  unless 
they  are  kept  apart.  If  sources  of  light  are  also  sources  of 
heat,  they  are  centres  from  which  a  mechanical  force  radiates, 
and  all  light  appears  to  be  associated  with  heat,  though  the 
amount  may  sometimes  be  too  small  for  measurement. 

When  water  in  a  kettle  is  sufficiently  heated  steam-bubbles 
form  near  the  fire.  While  the  upper  layers  of  water  are  cold 
these  collapse  suddenly  to  grow  again ;  the  water  simmers, 
and  the  kettle  is  shaken.  When  the  upper  layers  are  warmed 
the  steam  floats  up,  the  bubble  expands  as  it  rises  ;  and  at  last 
it  lifts  up  the  surface  of  the  water,  bursts  through  it,  and  ex- 
pands more  freely  in  air  when  relieved  from  pressure.  In 
thus  bursting  a  dome  of  water,  steam  drives  drops  of  water 


388  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

before  it,  and  these  projectiles  describe  curved  paths  while 
they  rise  and  fall.  They  are  scattered  by  radiation,  and 
attracted  by  gravitation.  The  amount  of  force  applied,  and 
its  direction,  determine  the  distances  traversed  and  the  curves 
described  by  these  projectiles.  The  bursting  water-dome 
starts  a  whole  system  of  waves,  which  radiate  and  spread 
horizontally.  The  steam-bubble  transfers  its  charge  of  heat 
and  force  to  the  air  about  it,  and  it  starts  a  movement  which 
spreads  horizontally  and  vertically,  as  sound  spreads  in  the 
air.  The  water  particles,  which  heat  separated  and  drove 
upwards,  attract  each  other  when  the  heat  has  passed  on  ;  the 
steam  condenses,  and  drops,  attracted  by  the  earth,  fall  down. 

The  particles  of  air,  which  repelled  each  other  and  rose 
when  heated  by  steam,  attract  each  other  and  fall  when  the 
heat  has  passed  on  to  the  next  shell  of  air.  And  so  move- 
ment spreads,  and  circulation  goes  on  about  a  source  of  heat 
and  light.  Who  is  to  limit  the  movement  which  begins  at  a 
fire  under  a  kettle  ? 

Whatever  the  source  of  mechanical  power  may  be,  like 
radiating  and  converging  movements  must  result  from  radi- 
ating and  converging  forces.  A  spirit-lamp,  a  fire,  a  furnace, 
the  earth's  heat,  and  the  light  of  the  sun,  all  cause  like 
radiating  movements  when  used  in  the  same  way. 

Water  in  a  transparent  glass  vessel  above  a  lamp  circulates 
like  water  boiling  in  a  kettle  on  the  fire.  Water  boiling  in 
a  tray  full  of  sand  moves  on  the  same  principle  as  water  boil- 
ing about  iron  and  slag,  or  about  hot  lava,  or  like  water  in  a 
spring  heated  by  the  earth.  The  sun's  rays,  collected  with  a 
burning-glass  and  thrown  upon  metal  under  water,  cause  the 
movements  which  would  result  if  the  metal  were  heated  as 
much  in  any  other  way. 

Whatever  the  substance  may  be,  radiating  and  converging 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS.  389 

forces,  of  sufficient "  energy,"  produce  like  movements.  Porridge 
in  a  pan,  glass  in  a  retort,  fluid  metals  and  stones  at  furnaces, 
mud  in  boiling  springs,  lava-floods  on  wet  ground,  lava-springs 
which  are  volcanoes,  all  move  on  one  principle ;  and  some  re- 
tain forms  which  register  the  movements  which  resulted  from 
the  forces  applied.  The  heat  of  a  lava-drop  spinning  in  air 
acts  on  its  surface,  and  the  outside  gives  a  clue  to  the  internal 
structure  of  the  stone  :  the  heat  of  the  earth  acts  on  its  sur- 
face, and  the  forms  which  result  may  give  a  clue  to  the  earth's 
structure. 

If  all  sources  of  heat  and  all  materials  be  alike  in  these 
respects,  then  small  experiments  help  to  explain  the  forms 
which  result  from  the  action  of  the  earth's  heat.  Materials 
which  melt  and  freeze  at  low  temperatures,  will  serve  as  well 
for  illustration  and  study  as  those  which  only  melt  at  furnace 
heat. 

Oil,  water,  and  mercury,  in  a  glass  vessel,  make  a  series  of 
three  fluid  layers,  which  are  portions  of  concentric  shells,  and 
are  at  rest  at  ordinary  temperatures.  If  the  lowest  layer  is 
heated  the  whole  series  is  disturbed.  If  cooled  so  that  one 
freezes  the  shapes  alter.  If  water  freezes  above  mercury,  in 
a  closed  vessel,  the  fluid  metal  beneath  the  solid  ice  is  forced 
into  irregular  angular  shapes,  and  globules  are  squeezed  up 
into  the  hard  crust,  where  they  take  the  forms  of  air-bubbles 
compressed  in  ice.  In  like  manner  water  and  oil  in  the  same 
bottle  are  disturbed  by  every  change  of  temperature  which 
freezes  the  one  or  boils  the  other.  Water  and  air  at  32° 
react  upon  each  other,  as  iron  and  air  do  at  3000°.  In  both 
cases  the  gas  imprisoned  within  a  solid  shapes  a  chamber 
whose  form  records  the  direction  in  which  forces  acted.  It  is 
easy  to  tell  which  side  of  a  plate  of  ice  or  cast-iron  was  upper- 
most if  there  be  an  air-bubble  in  it.  By  this  rule  applied  to 


390  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

a  bit  of  lava  it  is  easy  to  tell  which  side  was  uppermost,  and  in 
which  direction  a  stream  flowed  when  it  froze. 

The  impression,  p.  423,  is  from  a  vertical  section  made 
through  an  upper  layer  of  lava,  which  was  flowing  from  A 
to  B  when  it  set.  It  was  part  of  a  lava  surface  near  Eeyk- 
javik.  The  ridges  are  sections  of  great  coils  which  formed 
about  the  centre,  from  which  a  little  spring  of  lava  boiled 
out,  and  froze  as  it  spread.  The  movement  was  like  that  of 
boiling  water,  but  in  this  case  the  boiling  fluid  curdled  and 
froze  on  the  surface,  and  the  horizontal  waves  remain. 

At  p.  400  is  another  impression  made  from  a  section  cut 
down  through  the  middle  of  a  set  of  loops  on  the  surface  of  a 
frozen  rill  of  slag.  It  boiled  up  through  a  hole  in  a  freezing 
crust ;  and  streams  spread  as  boiling  water  spreads  above  a 
centre  of  ebullition.  Each  rill  flowed  fastest  in  the  centre, 
and  froze  first  at  distant  points  and  at  the  sides,  and  the 
flow  is  marked  by  curved  loops  like  string.  In  these  two 
cases  materials  and  dimensions  differ,  but  the  forms  are  alike 
though  produced  by  terrestrial  and  furnace  heat.  Solar  heat 
properly  applied  produces  the  same  forms  on  sealing-wax 
or  asphalt.  Slag  can  always  be  seen  flowing  and  freezing, 
sealing-wax  can  be  melted  at  home  ;  and  forms  on  these 
explain  lava-forms,  and  like  forms  of  any  dimensions  any- 
where. 

Solder  and  sealing-wax,  like  boiling  lava,  take  a  shape 
and  retain  it ;  and  these  and  other  materials,  which  are  easily 
managed,  serve  their  purpose  as  well  as  iron.  Plaster-of- 
Paris  sinks  in  cold  water,  becomes  a  plastic  mud,  and  then 
sets  hard ;  it  is  moved  by  streams  and  by  currents  in  water, 
and  when  it  sets  it  retains  the  shape  which  it  took  while 
moving.  Water  and  silt,  plaster,  sand,  or  clay,  in  small 
quantities,  illustrate  the  action  of  hot  or  cold  water  on  larger 


TUBES  AND  SPKINGS.  391 

quantities  of  like  materials  ;  and  so  models  illustrate  natural 
phenomena. 

The  Geysers  may  be  compared  with  a  geological  toy  ;  and 
forms  which  result  from  the  earth's  heat  may  be  explained 
by  forms  which  result  from  the  heat  of  a  lamp  applied  as 
mechanical  force. 

A  working  model  of  a  hot  spring  is  very  easily  made. 
Some  flat  broken  plates  of  slag,  and  a  pile  of  sand  and  fine  dry 
earth,  laid  upon  an  iron  tray,  may  represent  the  country  about 
the  Geysers,  which  consists  of  shattered  strata  of  lava,  volcanic 
sands,  and  loose  soil.  A  pile  of  broken  ice  and  snow  laid  on 
the  heap  is  placed  like  glaciers,  which  crown  high  mountains 
in  the  region  ;  and  a  gas  lamp  under  the  tray  acts  the  part  of 
the  earth's  heat,  which  boils  water  beneath  the  surface  in 
Iceland.  So  far  this  model  imitates  a  natural  arrangement 
of  a  bit  of  the  earth's  crust,  situated  between  regions  where 
the  upper  temperature  is  less  than  32°,  and  the  temperature 
under  ground  is  more  than  212°,  the  freezing  and  boiling  points 
of  water.  It  is  a  region  of  Frost  and  Fire.  Soon  after  the 
lamp  is  lighted,  the  pile  of  ice  begins  to  melt  and  slide  upon 
the  sand  and  stones,  as  glaciers  do  on  sloping  hills.  A  heap 
of  iron  tossed  into  a  furnace  melts  and  slides  for  the  same 
reason  at  a  higher  temperature ;  and  ice  and  iron  flow 
when  they  are  fluid.  The  water  flows  and  sinks  through 
loose  sand,  and  through  cracks  and  holes  in  the  plates  of  slag  ; 
and  so  it  finds  a  way  to  the  lowest  depth  of  the  iron  vessel. 
Iron  finds  its  way  through  lighter  cinders  to  the  bottom  of 
a  furnace  ;  it  sinks  through  slag  as  water  sinks  in  oil ;  and  all 
fluids  of  different  specific  gravities  which  do  not  mix  find  their 
respective  levels  and  take  their  places  in  a  series,  like  oil, 
water,  and  mercury  in  a  glass.  In  the  model,  only  one  solid 
is  melted,  and  a  wet  pile  of  sand  and  stones  remains  in  a  pool 


392  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

of  water,  supported  by  an  iron  tray,  which  a  lamp  heats  but 
cannot  melt.  So  far  the  heat  of  fusion  enables  gravitation  to 
move  ice  more  speedily  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  region.  The 
melting  snows  of  Iceland  form  large  rivers  which  reach  the 
sea ;  but  great  part  of  the  water  sinks  down  through  sands 
and  shattered  lavas.  The  water  which  sinks  where  it  falls 
finally  reaches  some  region  where  water  boils,  some  lava-crust 
which  stops  it,  as  a  hot  iron  tray  keeps  water  from  sinking 
deeper.  A  column  of  water,  sand,  and  lava,  with  a  base  near 
the  region  whence  lava-springs  rise,  must  be  intensely  heated, 
so  as  to  exert  a  powerful  mechanical  force,  which  radiates 
from  the  earth's  centre  upwards.  At  one  end  of  this  series 
"  perpetual  snows"  crown  the  hills ;  at  the  other  is  steam  ; 
and  between  these  two,  water  circulates  as  it  does  in  a  tray 
full  of  sand,  or  in  a  kettle.  When  water  is  boiled  in  sand, 
steam  forms  below  within  six  inches  of  unrnelted  ice  upon  the 
surface,  and  water  boils  furiously  within  a  few  inches  of  water 
which  is  scarcely  warmed.  Shallow  water  cannot  be  much 
heated  so  long  as  ice  floats  in  it ;  but  sand  and  stones  impede 
the  movements  of  water,  and  steam,  and  heat.  It  follows  that 
the  temperature  of  a  hot  spring  is  no  measure  of  its  tempera- 
ture deep  under  ground. 

But  though  these  movements  are  retarded,  they  are  still 
the  same  in  kind  as  the  movements  of  water  boiling  in  a 
Florence  flask.  There  is  circulation  ;  currents  sink  and  rise, 
though  snow  and  ice  are  at  one  end  and  fluid  lava  at  the  other. 

Because  hot  springs  are  found  in  most  regions  of  the  earth, 
great  underground  heat  is  not  peculiar  to  Iceland  or  to  any 
district.  There  is  a  great  store  of  heat  and  force  within  the 
earth's  crust,  ready  to  act  wherever  a  weak  point  is  found. 
Currents  in  water  move  solids.  Sand  retards  circulation  in 
hot  water,  but  is  equally  urged  by  the  force  which  it  resists. 


TUBES  AND  SPKINGS.  393 

When  the  force  accumulates,  sand  is  driven  by  boiling  water, 
and  steam  builds  it  up  into  heaps  and  scatters  it  in  the  air. 
A  heat  insufficient  to  fuse  solid  sand  melts  solid  ice  and  turns 
it  to  steam,  and  so  it  projects  the  sand  like  shot  from  a  steam- 
gun.  When  water  is  rapidly  heated  in  a  narrow  tube,  steam 
forms  so  as  to  scatter  a  column  of  water  like  a  charge  of  shot. 
When  water  is  heated  in  a  kettle  with  the  lid  on,  steam  formed 
below  rises  to  the  top,  and  there  expands  till  it  either  drives 
the  water  out  of  the  spout  or  lifts  the  lid.  The  mechanics  of 
the  Geyser  have  been  explained  by  these  two  modes  of  action. 
According  to  one  theory,  the  base  of  a  column  of  water  be- 
comes so  hot  that  it  flashes  into  steam,  and  blows  out  the 
charge  above  it.  The  other  explanation  supposes  a  steam 
chamber  communicating  with  the  base  of  the  pipe,  so  as  to 
force  water  out  of  the  spout  of  this  giant  kettle  when  the 
steam  gets  up.  Both  theories  may  be  correct. 

In  models  the  latter  action  commonly  results.  The  melted 
ice  becomes  steam  under  the  slag  roof,  and  forces  water  out, 
while  cold  water  is  pressed  in  by  weight.  The  water  is  re- 
pelled by  heat  and  attracted  by  gravitation,  and  so  an  alter- 
nating outward  and  inward  sidelong  movement  results,  be- 
cause the  slag  roof  of  the  steam  chamber  prevents  the  steam 
from  escaping  upwards.  When  a  bubble  of  steam  escapes  it 
carries  off  a  charge  of  heat  and  force,  and  water  enters  the 
chamber  ;  when  the  water  is  heated  sufficiently  steam  drives 
out  the  water  and  forces  it  through  sand  and  chinks  in  the 
slag  ;  and  so,  after  a  short  time,  jets  and  fountains  of  hot  water, 
steam,  and  sand,  burst  through  the  cold  wet  surface  where  ice 
remains ;  and  these,  after  playing  for  a  moment,  stop  suddenly 
when  the  steam  has  blown  off,  and  the  boiler  is  re-filled.  This 
is  a  result  of  heat-force,  for  the  height  of  the  jet  is  decreased 
by  decreasing  the  quantity  of  gas  burned,  and  the  action  stops 


394  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

entirely  soon  after  the  gas  is  turned  off.  Another  result  is  the 
packing  and  sorting  of  sand.  The  boiling  water  sorts  coarse  and 
fine,  heavy  and  light  materials,  and  packs  them  in  stratified 
beds  ;  it  drives  water  fountains  through  beds  of  sand,  makes 
hollows  beneath  the  surface,  and  it  piles  mounds  of  definite 
shape  upon  the  top  of  the  heap.  In  nature,  as  in  this  model, 
water  is  dragged  down  by  weight  and  driven  up  by  heat ;  cold 
makes  it  a  solid  in  one  region,  heat  makes  steam  of  it  in 
another ;  it  moves  from  the  earth  towards  the  sky,  and  from 
the  sky  back  to  earth,  as  it  is  heated  by  the  earth's  radiation, 
or  cools  by  radiation  into  space.  Vapour  in  air  becomes  a 
cloud,  and  a  snow  shower,  melts  and  sinks,  turns  to  steam  and 
rises  again ;  and  so  a  cloud  becomes  a  glacier  and  a  geyser  in 
Iceland,  because  the  world  is  hot,  and  space  about  it  cold  ; 
and  the  action  is  the  same  in  a  tray  full  of  sand  and  stones 
heated  by  a  gas  lamp. 

The  action  of  a  boiling  spring  may  thus  be  imitated  ;  but 
something  more  is  wanting  to  complete  a  model.  When  a 
jet  of  water  has  forced  a  way  through  sand,  the  loose  sand 
falls  back,  and  the  passage  fills.  It  is  so  in  the  model.  Near 
the  foot  of  Krabla  are  several  large,  deep,  funnel-shaped  hol- 
lows in  loose  volcanic  debris.  These  sandy  craters  are  partly 
filled  with  hot  sulphurous  green  water  ;  but  every  shower  and 
breeze  of  wind  disturbs  the  sand,  and  the  holes  through  which 
water  rises  are  filling  rapidly  from  above.  In  sandy  bays, 
where  burrowing  shells  flourish,  a  certain  so-called  "  spout- 
fish"  thrusts  his  long  neck  through  sand  when  the  tide 
flows.  His  mouth  is  level  with  the  surface,  but  his  body  and 
shell  are  far  down.  When  the  tide  ebbs  and  danger 
approaches,  the  shell-fish  retires,  and  in  shrinking,  spouts 
water  and  sand  at  the  foe.  He  leaves  a  small  crater,  but  the 
next  wave  fills  it,  and  so  all  trace  of  the  spout-fish  is  lost. 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS.  395 

Like  this  creature,  a  boiling  spring  would  leave  no  trace  if  it 
only  spouted  through  holes  which  filled  as  fast  as  they  were 
made.  There  may  have  been  springs  boiling  in  ancient  sands, 
of  which  no  trace  remains  in  sedimentary  rocks. 

Many  of  the  hot  springs  in  Iceland  deposit  solids  when 
the  water  cools,  and  these  form  permanent  tubes  and  craters, 
which  could  be  recognised  anywhere.  Some  are  deep,  still, 
hot  wells  ;  some  are  always  surging  about;  some  are  great 
fountains  spouting  at  short  intervals  ;  some  explode  occasion- 
ally ; — and  all  these  have  craters  and  tubes  of  definite  forms, 
which  result  from  movements  in  the  water.  These  forms  are 
no  accidents,  for  they  can  be  copied  in  models,  and  they  recur 
at  different  places  in  Iceland.  When  the  tide  flows  over  the 
sand  below  Gran-voile  in  France,  thousands  of  sea-worms 
emerge  from  holes,  and  their  long  bodies  and  active  feelers 
stretch  and  wave  in  search  of  food.  When  the  tide  ebbs, 
these  creatures  shrink  back ;  but  loose  sand  sticks  to  their 
slimy  bodies,  and  in  shrinking  each  adds  a  ring  of  sand  to 
the  tube  in  which  he  hides.  As  multitudes  live  together,  a 
mound  of  sand,  pierced  like  a  sponge,  forms  at  last.  Like 
these,  hot  springs  add  to  their  tubes  by  every  movement ;  and 
the  form  of  the  tube  results  from  movements  in  the  boiling 
water. 

Geyser  Tubes. — Of  all  these  tubes,  the  best  known  and 
the  easiest  to  get  at  are  the  Geysers.  They  are  only  seven 
days'  journey  from  Leith,  and  situated  near  the  base  of  a 
volcanic  hill  somewhat  smaller  than  Arthur's  Seat ;  a  cone  of 
lava  is  at  the  top  of  it ;  sand  and  cinders  are  on  the  sides. 
To  the  east  is  a  wide,  flat,  wet  valley,  beyond  which,  some  ten 
or  fifteen  miles  away,  is  a  low  range  of  hills ;  and  behind  these 
the  top  of  Hecla  may  be  seen  in  clear  weather.  At  the  head 
of  the  valley,  far  away  to  the  north,  are  dark,  bare,  high  peaks, 


396  TUBES  AND  SPKINGS. 

amongst  which  are  enormous  fields  of  snow  and  ice.  To  the 
west,  behind  the  volcanic  hill,  at  a  distance  of  about  a  mile 
from  the  springs,  a  range  of  high  ground  begins,  which  extends 
a  day's  journey  to  Thingvalla,  and  includes  a  number  of  high 
rocky  volcanic  peaks,  and  great  lava-floods  ;  and  SkjaldbreiS, 
the  great  centre  from  which  these  flowed,  is  to  the  north- 
west (see  p.  409). 

To  the  south-west  the  wide  valley  opens  out  into  a  great 
boggy  plain,  which  reaches  to  the  sea.  It  is  covered  with 
grass  and  marsh-plants,  traversed  by  large  rivers  flowing 
nearly  south-west ;  large  lakes  are  in  it ;  and  every  here  and 
there  rocky  hills  spring  up  in  the  moor  like  distant  blue  islands 
in  a  firth.  The  whole  country  rests  upon  heated  strata  ;  for 
in  a  calm  evening  the  white  steam  of  hot  springs  may  be 
seen  blowing  off  at  intervals  in  the  marshy  plain.  To  the 
east  Hecla  is  still  hot,  and  beyond  it  lies  Skaptar  Jokull ;  and 
hot  springs  are  in  that  direction.  Many  are  in  the  plains  to 
the  south  ;  one  is  half-way  to  Thingvalla ;  a  little  geyser  is 
near  Eeykjavik  ;  a  spring  is  near  the  town  itself ;  and  further 
west  are  many  more  hot  springs.  The  whole  country  is 
volcanic,  even  to  the  Westman  Islands,  far  out  at  sea ;  and 
even  under  the  sea  volcanic  eruptions  occasionally  break  out. 
Streams  of  lava  have  flowed  over  beds  of  loose  materials,  and 
now  roof  in  and  confine  hot  water  beneath  the  surface ;  and 
so  steam  is  forced  to  escape  through  vents,  rifts,  holes,  and 
cracks,  like  those  which  pervade  the  upper  lava-beds.  To  the 
north  also  is  sufficient  evidence  of  extinct  volcanic  action : 
the  land  is  high  and  snow-clad,  and  cold  reigns  there  now  ; 
but  beyond  the  mountains  are  many  more  hot  springs. 

All  these  have  one  thing  in  common  : — they  are  all  in  low 
grounds  near  the  base  of  volcanic  hills,  midway  between  cold 
and  heat,  ice  and  steam  ;  where  the  water  which  flows  from 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS.  397 

the  jokulls,  through  ashes  and  porous  strata,  shivered  lava  and 
volcanic  caverns,  stands  nearly  level  with  the  surface  of  the 
flat  marshy  ground.  Heat  is  below  to  boil  it,  a  tough  lava  to 
keep  it  from  sinking  deeper ;  a  region  of  heat,  sufficient  to 
keep  the  great  kettle  boiling,  is  below  that ;  and  a  great  lid 
of  mountains  is  piled  over  the  steam-boiler. 

There  is  then  every  reason  to  expect  that  steam  should 
escape  where  the  weight  is  least,  and  that  springs  should  burst 
out  at  the  foot  of  the  hills. 

The  tubes  have  still  to  be  explained. 

Above  the  great  spouting  Geyser,  distant  from  it  about 
100  yards,  and  on  the  top  of  a  steep  bank  of  loose  sand  and 
ashes,  are  several  still  quiet  pools  of  water  which  are  a  few 
yards  wide,  and  which  look  as  if  they  were  puddles  of  rain 
collected  in  hollows  at  various  elevations.  An  active  man 
might  leap  over  them  ;  and  the  wonder  is  how  water  can  rest 
at  all  on  such  porous  ground.  These  are,  in  fact,  springs  hot 
enough  to  boil  food,  and  their  depth  is  unknown.  The  water 
is  beautifully  clear  and  green,  and  the  sides  of  the  well  are 
seen  through  it,  darkening  as  they  descend,  till  they  are  lost 
in  a  black  hole  fathoms  down.  In  August  1861,  an  emerald 
green  tongue  was  anchored  by  a  string  in  one  of  these  wells, 
quietly  boiling  for  dinner ;  while  a  kettle  of  soup,  with  a  big 
stone  on  the  lid,  was  simmering  up  to  its  ears  in  hot  water  on 
a  natural  bridge  of  stone  which  spans  the  pool.  Far  away 
down  on  a  sloping  shelf  reposed  an  old  copper  coffee-kettle, 
which  some  former  traveller  had  dropped  in,  and  the  boiling 
water  wTas  slowly  welling  up  in  the  middle,  rising  every  now 
and  then,  a  smooth  greasy  mound,  like  the  swirl  which  a  sal- 
mon makes  when  he  rises  at  a  fly  and  wags  his  broad  tail  in 
derision  at  the  cheat.  A  small  steaming  rill,  the  waste  of  this 
well,  and  the  measure  of  its  supply,  trickled  steadily  down  the 


398  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

bank,  depositing  stone  on  the  ashes.  As  the  coffee-kettle  had 
been  on  its  shelf  long  enough  to  gather  a  crust,  it  is  clear  that 
this  spring,  though  boiling,  boils  quietly.  It  is  of  great  depth, 
and  such  a  column  of  water  would  burst  through  the  loose 
ashes  of  which  the  ground  about  the  spring  consists.  Two 
such  columns  could  not  exist  within  a  few  feet  of  each  other 
at  different  elevations,  in  mere  tubes  formed  in  porous  soil. 
But  the  columns  do  so  exist,  side  by  side,  in  these  natural  wells. 
They  are  enclosed  within  rough  stone  tubes,  hardly  pervious  to 
water ;  and  the  question  is,  how  these  rugged  irregular  stone 
tubes  came  to  be  formed  at  first. 

If  the  question  is  answered  for  one  tube,  the  formation  of 
similar  tubes,  wherever  found,  may  be  referred  to  the  same 
agency  ;  and  similar  tubes  are  to  be  found  in  all  stages  of  con- 
struction in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  more  especially  in 
Iceland. 

Rough  Stone  Tubes. — On  the  ridge  above  Thingvalla,  to 
the  eastward  of  that  valley  and  close  to  the  track,  at  about 
half  a  day's  journey  from  the  "  kitchen,"  on  a  hill-side,  and 
below  a  considerable  mountain,  in  a  country  whose  surface  is 
wholly  composed  of  bare  cinders  and  lava,  there  stands  a  rock 
which  rises  some  eight  or  ten  feet  above  the  loose  rubbish. 
It  might  be  carelessly  passed  as  a  clinker  which  had  rolled 
down  the  mountain,  and  a  little  way  up  the  opposite  slope. 
It  is  in  fact  the  protruding  end  of  a  rough  stone  tube  of  great 
but  unknown  depth,  and  it  is  very  like  the  tube  of  the 
kitchen.  It  contains  no  water,  and  apparently  never  has,  for 
it  is  too  porous  to  hold  it.  So  far  as  the  chamber  can  be 
seen  it  seems  to  be  a  large  conical  hall  of  rough  black  lava, 
covered  by  a  small  conical  roof,  with  a  hole  in  the  side  through 
which  a  man  could  creep.  All  round  are  scattered  traces  of 
great  heat.  It  is  evident  that  this  tube  was  made  of  melted 


TUBES  AND  SPKINGS.  399 

stones,  and  that  the  force  which  modelled  it  cast  stones  out  of 
it,  for  there  they  lie  scattered  all  about  it  as  fresh  as  if  they 
had  fallen  the  day  before.  It  is  probable  that  this  is  a  chimney, 
which  is  or  once  was  connected  with  a  subterranean  chamber. 

Within  a  mile  or  two  of  this  tube  a  roof  of  lava  has  fallen 
into  a  cavern,  over  which  the  track  leads.  It  is  a  large  hollow 
blown  in  the  lava,  but  no  one  has  explored  it.  About  seven 
or  eight  miles  away  the  plain  of  Thingvalla  has  sunk  down 
over  an  area  of  more  than  a  hundred  square  miles,  leaving 
broken  edges  to  mark  the  original  level  of  the  roof  (voL  i  p. 
93).  If  the  lava  could  be  raised  up  again,  and  the  rifts 
mended,  there  would  be  a  chamber  in  the  valley  some  hun- 
dreds of  feet  high  beneath  a  roof  some  hundreds  of  feet  thick 
(voL  i  p.  90) ;  and  if  such  a  lava-boiler  were  filled  with  the 
lake  and  boiled,  the  steam-power  would  be  sufficient  to 
account  for  many  of  the  phenomena  in  the  district.  In  parti- 
cular, steam  might  well  blow  vertical  tubes  in  soft  lava,  and 
so  shape  Tintron,  with  its  roof  of  clinkers  and  its  spreading 
lava-waves. 

A  couple  of  days'  journey  to  the  north  is  Surtshellr.  It 
is  the  best  known  of  Icelandic  caverns  ;  but  every  lava-flood 
in  the  island  seems  to  be  honeycombed  with  great  caves.  At 
p.  426,  vol.  1,  is  a  map  which  shows  the  position  of  Surtshellr ; 
and  the  nearest  iron-foundry  will  show  how  such  horizontal 
caverns  are  formed.  The  large  one  extends  along  the  lava- 
stream,  and  is  at  the  edge  of  a  slight  fall  in  the  ground.  At 
page  429  the  edge  of  a  broken  roof  is  shown  in  the  foreground, 
and  here  the  case  of  Thingvalla  is  repeated  on  a  small  scale. 
The  roof  having  sunk,  small  cliffs  surround  a  hollow.  The  en- 
trance to  the  cavern  is  to  the  right,  and  there  the  roof,  though 
much  shattered,  has  not  fallen.  The  cavern  has  been  explored 
for  about  a  mile  ;  the  roof  has  fallen  in  several  places,  and  the 


400 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 


cave  is  partially  filled  with  snow  and  ice.  At  furnaces,  slag 
commonly  runs  in  a  trench  scraped  in  ashes.  As  it  flows  it 
freezes  ;  first  at  some  considerable  distance  from  the  outlet.  A 
bridge  of  stone  spans  the  stream,  and  then  the  tough  surface 
gathers  behind  the  bridge,  and  forms  a  series  of  wrinkled 
loops,  which  look  like  coils  of  string.  This  upper  crust  grows 
up  stream,  while  an  under  crust  forms  below ;  the  hot  slag 
flows  on  between  them,  and  if  the  supply  is  stopped,  the  fluid 
interior  of  this  tube  flows  away  till  it  cools  and  stops.  When 


Slag. 


FIG.  105. — VERTICAL  SECTION  THROUGH  A  FROZEN  STREAM  OP  WRINKLED  SLAG. 
Printed  from  the  Stone. 

Folds  on  the  surface  are  like  heavy  drapery.  The  stream  moved  to  the  left,  and  folds 
gathered  up  stream  towards  the  right.  The  fluid  froze  at  the  surface,  and  crusts  and  folds 
which  formed  under  and  behind  each  other  can  easily  be  traced  from  the  structure  of  this 
crust  (see  pp.  390  and  423). 

this  happens,  the  lower  end  of  the  tube  is  filled  with  the  same 
material  which  makes  the  sides  and  roof.  The  workmen 
break  up  this  slag  stream  to  let  the  fluid  escape  more  freely, 
and  hundreds  of  broken  pipes  about  the  size  of  drain-tiles 
may  be  found  about  any  ironwork.  It  often  happens  that  a 
tube  of  this  kind  splits  along  the  roof  while  cooling,  and  then 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS.  401 

a  whole  series  of  loops  of  slag — )  )  )  )  )  ) — are  torn  through 
the  middle.  The  roof  of  Surtshellr  is  covered  with  similar 
loops  and  coils,  which  show  the  directions  of  the  flow.  They  are 
thick  as  cables,  but  exactly  like  coils  on  slag  (see  p.  423).  In 
many  places  these  wrinkles  are  torn  through,  and  the  whole 
roof  is  shattered.  In  a  section  the  uppermost  layer  is  pris- 
matic ;  layers  below  are  stratified  horizontally  ;  the  under 
surface,  where  it  is  preserved  entire,  is  hung  with  pendants 
of  spongy  lava,  with  a  vitreous  crust.  These  froze  while 
dripping  from  the  newly-frozen  roof.  The  growth  of  this 
horizontal  chamber  is  fully  explained  by  its  structure,  and 
every  lava-stream  is  full  of  such  hollows. 

Myvatn. — Vertical  chambers  also  abound  at  Myvatn  : 
many  project  through  the  hill-sides  near  the  lake,  and  have 
the  most  fantastic  shapes.  They  suggest  ruined  castles,  turrets, 
and  such-like  edifices,  but  they  were  all  built  by  volcanic 
heat.  In  this  region  the  lavas  are  disposed  in  beds,  which 
have  been  much  broken,  and  cold  water  now  flows  in  hollow 
chambers  beneath  lava  roofs. 

Similar  tubes  may  be  seen  at  an  earlier  stage  of  growth. 

Vesuvius. — In  1842  there  was  a  tube  at  the  bottom  of 
the  crater  of  Vesuvius ;  smoke  and  air  and  sulphurous  va- 
pours were  then  rising  from  it,  as  from  a  chimney,  with  a 
loud  rushing  sound  like  the  noise  of  a  great  wind.  Far  away 
down  in  the  earth  a  dim  redness  was  seen  glowing  through 
the  smoke  :  it  was  earth-light  seen  through  the  dark  crust. 
Heat  was  converting  some  material  into  vapour,  in  some 
underground  chamber,  and  the  expanding  vapour  had  burst 
through  the  earth,  and  made  a  tube  by  plastering  melted 
stone  upon  the  sides.  The  same  force  had  cast  out  some  of 
the  spare  materials ;  for  half  melted  and  even  burning  sulphur, 
scorched  cinders,  and  bits  of  lava  and  pumice,  were  scattered 

VOL.  II.  2  D 


402  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

about  the  great  hollow  basin  which  surrounded  this  hot  tube. 
The  mouth  of  the  hole  itself  was  about  the  size  of  a  coal- 
pit ;  and  for  size,  shape,  and  material,  it  was  extremely  like 
the  empty  pipes  described  above,  and  the  hot  wells  above  the 
Geysers. 

It  was  choking  work  to  get  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
crater  of  Vesuvius  then  :  shoes  were  charred,  sulphurous 
fumes  were  swallowed,  in  passing  over  beds  which  were 
visibly  burning;  eggs  were  baked  for  luncheon,  and  sticks 
were  burned  in  red  cracks  in  the  lava.  No  man  could  have 
approached  the  spot  where  the  giant  Fire  was  at  work  in  his 
tube,  like  a  great  sea-worm  in  a  sand-bed. 

In  1844  a  small  cone  and  crater  had  grown  about  this 
pit,  and  through  it  more  red-hot  stones,  and  fountains  of 
dust  and  vapour,  were  thrown,  as  fountains  of  steam  and 
drops  are  thrown  by  bubbles  of  steam  from  boiling  water. 
The  solids  either  fell  within  the  hollow,  and  rolled  down,  to 
be  again  blown  out,  or  they  fell  outside,  and  rolled  to  the  side 
of  the  old  crater.  A  small  "  cone  of  eruption"  was  growing 
in  the  crater  of  the  older  cone  of  eruption,  which  stands  in  a 
still  older  broken  cup  which,  as  it  is  now  believed,  grew 
under  the  sea. 

A  few  years  later  the  work  could  be  safely  watched  from 
the  upper  edge  of  the  crater,  and  it  was  thus  described  : — 

The  place  where  the  mouth  of  a  stone  tube  had  been  in 
1842,  the  bottom  of  the  crater,  was  filled  by  a  pool  of  seething 
lava,  and  a  small  lava  river  was  slowly  oozing  through  the 
side  of  the  cone  about  the  level  of  the  pool  in  the  crater. 
The  stream  flowed  down  outside,  and  froze  as  it  flowed,  as 
water  flows  from  a  spring  and  freezes  in  winter.  But  every 
now  and  then  the  red-hot  viscid  pool,  which  was  doing  its 
best  to  freeze  in  the  basin,  got  a  fresh  supply  of  heat  from 


TUBES  AND   SPRINGS.  403 

below.  It  grew  white-hot,  and  then  the  whole  crater  seemed 
to  fill  with  a  purple  haze,  and  then  the  surface  burst,  and  a 
fountain  of  hot  vapours  rushed  up  into  the  air  through  the 
hole,  carrying  with  it  a  thin  flake-like  stony  material,  which 
fell  in  showers  within  and  far  beyond  the  edge  of  the  crater. 
Lava  was  then  bubbling,  and  simmering,  and  boiling  over  in 
the  ashes  ;  heat  was  blowing  a  new  tube  amongst  the  cinders, 
making  great  stone  bubbles  and  breaking  them,  and  scatter- 
ing the  fragments  far  and  wide  ;  and  as  the  finished  tube 
resembled  the  Icelandic  tubes,  it  is  probable  that  the  tubes  at 
the  Geyser  were  first  made  like  the  tube  in  Vesuvius. 

In  1857  lava  had  risen  in  the  crater  of  Vesuvius  to  the 
level  of  the  edge,  and  had  formed  a  plain.  On  this  two  small 
cones  had  risen  ;  they  were  hollow,  and  through  them  hot 
vapours  escaped  ;  they  were  like  Tiritron  with  its  extinguisher 
roof.  Later  a  fresh  crop  of  hollow  cones  grew  up  ;  and  then 
the  plain,  with  its  miniature  cones  and  craters,  was  burst  up 
and  destroyed. 

Tubes  radiating  from  the  earth's  centre  are  commonly 
formed  by  the  escape  of  hot  vapours  through  viscous  hot  lavas, 
and  mounds  of  definite  shapes  grow  about  these  open  tubes, 
from  overflows  of  lava  and  fountains  of  projectiles  which  rise 
through  the  tubes. 

Filled  Tubes. — All  these  are  as  it  were  living  specimens 
of  a  common  species  ;  their  habits  can  be  studied  and  their 
growth  watched,  though  they  are  dangerous  neighbours. 

Extinct  varieties  of  the  same  tribe — fossil  pipes  and 
chimneys,  springs  and  chambers — also  abound ;  and  they 
are  as  easily  known  as  a  fossil  bone  when  the  others  have 
been  seen. 

In  a  quarry  near  the  Drachenfells,  on  the  Rhine,  near 
the  top  of  a  conical  hill,  such  a  tube  was  visible  in  1840. 


404  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

It  was  made  of  stone  of  one  kind,  and  filled  with  stone 
of  a  different  colour.  It  was  in  the  condition  of  the  tube  in 
Vesuvius  when  it  had  filled  with  a  new  overflow  of  lava,  and 
such  strings  are  very  common  in  igneous  rocks  of  all  ages. 
They  exist  in  granite,  as  well  as  in  lava,  and  tell  their  story 
of  past  action  by  their  form,  as  clearly  as  fossil  bones  tell  of 
extinct  life. 

Small  Natural  Tubes. — To  understand  fossils  it  is  neces- 
sary to  study  living  animals,  and  active  volcanoes  are  not  al- 
ways within  reach.  To  understand  the  formation  of  tubes  by 
heat  the  action  must  be  watched  ;  and  there  is  a  very  lively, 
harmless  young  specimen,  whose  operations  can  be  watched, 
close  to  the  Geysers.  A  little  mud  spring  is  in  a  hollow  to  the 
north  of  the  Great  Geyser ;  it  is  almost  hidden  amongst  the 
ashes,  and  about  as  big  round  as  a  stew-pan  :  in  it  the  forma- 
tion of  tubes  by  hot  vapour  is  going  on.  The  spring  was  be- 
trayed by  a  ploutering,  poppling  sound,  which,  to  a  hungry 
Scot  with  the  brevet  rank  of  cook,  was  absurdly  suggestive  of 
boiling  porridge.  A  vision  of  a  nursery  and  a  rosy  maid,  a 
stew-pan  and  a  fire,  rose  up  as  if  by  magic  amongst  the  cin- 
ders ;  but  there  is  no  porridge  to  be  had  in  that  benighted 
land.  A  deaf  French  traveller,  who  was  supposed  to  be  dumb, 
was  startled  into  speech,  and  exclaimed,  "  Chocolate  !"  The 
spring  was  full  of  half  liquid  boiling  tough  clay,  through 
which  steam  and  other  hot  vapours  escaped  ;  and  as  the 
vapours  burst  through  the  surface  and  rose,  the  mud  flowed 
back  and  filled  up  the  holes  as  fast  as  they  were  made. 
This  small  tube-making  engine  was  like  Vesuvius  when  the 
lava  was  soft  in  the  crater  and  vapours  were  escaping  through 
it.  If  the  material  gets  tougher  the  soft  tubes  will  be  finished, 
and  the  poppling  will  cease,  as  it  had  ceased  in  Vesuvius  in 
1842,  when  the  lava  was  hard  though  hot,  and  vapours  were 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS.  405 

escaping  freely  through  a  rough  tube.  In  course  of  time  the 
mud  may  be  baked  into  stone,  and  the  tubes  will  then 
resemble  larger  tubes  in  the  same  neighbourhood.  They 
may  become  vents  for  hot  vapours,  or  for  hot  water,  or  lastly 
they  may  be  filled  up  with  some  other  material  and  become 
strings  like  those  which  abound  in  all  parts  of  the  earth's 
crust.  The  little  natural  engine  is  making  tubes  of  the  same 
pattern  as  those  which  are  made  by  larger  engines  moved  by 
the  same  force.  By  watching  it  the  whole  process  may  be 
learned,  as  the  action  of  a  large  steam-engine  is  learned  from 
a  model. 

Experiment. — If  a  small  spring  thus  tells  the  story  of  a 
big  one,  the  growth  may  be  studied  at  home.  Any  material 
which  will  melt  and  take  a  new  form,  and  retain  it,  will 
answer  the  purpose.  About  a  pound  of  common  red  sealing- 
wax  was  melted  at  a  slow  heat  in  a  tin  vessel  four  or  five  inches 
deep,  and  the  mass  was  allowed  to  cool.  Cold  water  was 
poured  in  till  the  mound  of  sealing-wax  was  covered  all  but 
the  top.  A  gas  lamp  was  then  placed  under  the  vessel,  and  a 
slow  heat  applied.  The  cold  water  in  contact  with  the  sealing- 
wax  kept  the  surface  tough,  while  the  lamp  melted  it  below, 
and  in  a  few  moments  the  wax  began  to  boil  on  the  dry  spot. 
It  not  only  boiled,  but  overflowed  because  of  the  downward 
pressure  of  the  water,  and  the  upward  force  of  its  own  expand- 
ing vapour.  But  as  it  boiled  over,  each  successive  overflow 
cooled  and  hardened  when  it  met  the  water ;  and  so  a  wall 
of  hard  wax  grew  about  a  pool  of  boiling  wax.  To  make  the 
wall  grow  higher  more  water  was  slowly  added,  and  the  circle 
rose  and  kept  pace  with  the  rising  water.  The  pressure  on 
the  surface  of  the  wrax  increased  as  the  water  deepened,  and 
the  lamp  kept  the  wax  boiling  in  the  tube  as  it  rose.  Down- 
ward pressure  outside  forced  up  the  fluid,  and  expansion 


406  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

within  drove  it  higher ;  so  the  wall  grew  to  be  a  hard  tube 
containing  the  same  materials  in  a  fluid  state.  It  was  like  the 
Vesuvius  lava-tube  during  an  overflow  of  hot  lava.  If  this 
process  had  been  continued  to  a  certain  point,  the  heat  would 
have  ceased  to  act,  and  the  tube  would  have  cooled  into  a 
solid  pillar  ;  but  the  form  to  be  produced  in  this  experiment 
was  an  open  tube,  so  the  lamp  was  extinguished  when  the 
wall  had  risen  about  three  inches  above  the  mound  of  wax. 

Gravitation  and  cold  came  into  play  ;  the  tough  surface 
of  the  wax  hardened  and  became  a  roof  which  resisted  the 
pressure  of  the  cold  water  ;  the  vapours  inside  condensed, 
and  the  hot  wax  diminished  in  volume,  so  as  to  leave  hollows 
beneath  the  crust ;  the  atmosphere  pressing  upon  the  fluid  in 
the  hard  tube  forced  it  back  into  the  hollows  whence  it  came, 
and  the  hot  wax  sank  in  with  a  rushing  sound.  Presently 
some  crack  opened  in  the  cooling  roof  of  the  chamber,  and 
water  flowed  in  and  rose  up,  filled  the  tube,  and  replaced  the 
melted  wax.  The  wax  tube  had  become  a  water  spring. 

The  outer  surface  of  the  tube  so  made  was  wrinkled,  each 
fold  corresponding  to  an  overflow  of  wax  and  a  rise  in  the 
water.  The  inner  surface  was  smooth  where  the  air  plastered 
it  against  the  hard  sides.  The  opening  was  wider  above  than 
below,  and  of  irregular  dimensions ;  but  generally  a  horizontal 
section  was  an  oval  or  some  rounded  figure,  while  a  vertical 
section  showed  chambers  and  pipes  winding  about  under  the 
surface  of  the  wax.  This  experiment  explains  the  making  of 
larger  tubes,  and  gives  some  notion  of  the  invisible  mechanism 
of  the  great  Icelandic  fountains.  The  model  tube  was  joined 
to  a  chamber,  and  so  are  the  geyser  tubes. 

Experiment  2. — Plaster-of-Paris  will  take  a  form  while 
plastic,  and  retain  it  when  it  sets ;  it  is  easily  moved  by 
water,  and  serves  well  to  illustrate  the  working  of  mud- 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS.  407 

springs  and  the  formation  of  tubes  and  cones  in  lava.  A 
shallow  tin  tray  was  filled  with  dry  plaster  and  heated  over 
a  lamp  ;  an  equal  bulk  of  cold  water  was  then  poured  in, 
and  it  boiled  when  it  reached  the  tray.  The  plaster  set 
quickly ;  but,  before  it  hardened,  steam  had  blown  a  large 
chamber,  and  pierced  two  holes  in  the  roof.  This  contrivance, 
when  set  to  work,  imitated  the  action  of  intermitting  hot 
springs  :  water  poured  over  the  plaster  sank  and  filled  the 
chamber ;  when  it  was  heated,  steam  drove  water  spouting 
out  of  the  holes  which  steam  first  made.  The  action  was  like 
that  of  a  kettle  boiling  with  the  lid  on,  and  with  water  above 
the  level  of  the  entrance  to  the  spout. 

By  sprinkling  dry  plaster  over  the  surface  while  water 
was  boiling  out  through  these  two  holes,  two  craters  were 
made  which  differed  materially  in  form.  One  was  like  the 
Strokr,  a  deep  conical  pit ;  the  other  like  the  basin  of  the 
Great  Geyser,  a  shallow  bowl.  Tn  one,  the  water  was  always 
far  hotter  than  it  was  in  the  other.  On  breaking  up  the 
model  the  reason  was  found.  The  roof  of  the  chamber  was  so 
formed  that  steam  escaped  towards  one  aperture,  when  a 
certain  amount  of  pressure  was  overcome.  It  only  escaped 
in  the  other  direction  after  the  water  had  been  forced  out,  so 
as  to  dry  a  lower  arch,  and  so  open  a  passage  into  the  second 
tube.  As  most  of  the  steam  went  one  way,  one  spring  boiled 
furiously  when  the  other  was  hardly  warmed,  though  both 
opened  into  the  same  boiler.  The  shape  of  the  basin  formed 
about  the  tube  resulted  from  the  movements  of  the  water. 
The  hottest  radiated  most  directly  from  the  source  of  heat, 
and  so  made  the  steepest  walls. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  describe  all  the  plans  tried  and  all 
the  models  made. 

Sealing-wax  heated  under  dry  sand  boiled  up,  and  made 


408  TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 

tubes  with  cones  and  craters,  from  which  eruptions  of  sealing- 
wax  flowed  like  lava.  When  water  was  poured  on,  the  tubes 
became  miniature  hot  springs.  When  the  model  was  cooled, 
the  same  holes  and  ducts  were  cold  springs  when  water 
poured  on  higher  points  had  sunk  in.  When  a  mound  of 
any  material  rose  high  enough  it  was  sealed  by  cold,  and 
then  fresh  vents  opened  near  the  base  of  the  mound  where 
resistance  was  least.  At  the  top  of  the  volcanic  hill  near  the 
Geysers  is  a  sealed  tube,  and  probably  the  hot  fountains  play 
through  vents  which  opened  below,  when  the  hill  was  made, 
and  the  power  greatly  spent. 

Similar  Forms. — The  same  thing  probably  happened 
wherever  there  is  a  hot  spring  under  a  hill,  and  wherever 
there  is  an  open  tube  or  a  circular  lake,  near  the  base  of  a 
conical  hill  whose  top  is  of  igneous  origin. 

The  same  power,  though  decreasing,  would  continue  to 
drive  mud  or  water  through  tubes  till  the  rocks  underneath 
cooled.  Duddingston  Loch  below  Arthur's  Seat,  and  the 
spring  in  it ;  two  round  lakes  below  Beuknock,  in  Islay ;  round 
lakes  at  the  foot  of  the  Jura  mountains,  and  similar  forms 
elsewhere,  may  all  be  traces  of  the  same  decreasing  igneous 
action  which  raised  up  hills.  Even  cold  springs  flowing- 
through  underground  channels  may  be  relics  of  the  same  force. 

Tubes  can  be  made  by  pouring  wet  plaster  into  a  hot 
tray.  Steam  drives  the  plaster  away,  and  it  grows  up  a 
hollow  chambered  mound  with  tubes  and  basins,  each  a 
miniature  hot  spring.  The  movements  and  the  forms  which 
result  are  like  those  which  resulted  from  the  freezing  of  silver. 

The  same  forms  are  produced  by  shaking  diy  plaster  into 
boiling  water,  as  meal  is  shaken  in  to  make  porridge  :  the 
plaster  is  moved  by  currents,  and  takes  a  cast  of  the  ray- 
force  which  moves  them.  Potters'  clay,  paste,  porridge, 


TUBES  AND  SPRINGS. 


409 


asphalt,  glass,  slag,  iron,  lava,  or  any  other  material  through 
which  vapours  can  force  their  way,  will  take  these  casts  ;  and 
the  form  is  a  record  of  the  force  of  heat  radiating  from  the 
earth  outwards.  The  highest  mountains  in  the  world  contain 
tubes  ;  they  pierce  the  crust  in  all  regions,  and  they  can  be 
made  at  will  experimentally,  by  setting  radiation  and  gravi- 
tation to  work  upon  fusible  solids,  and  vapours  which  can  be 
frozen. 

In  all  these  examples — in  furnace-sparks  and  refuse,  in 
volcanic  bombs  and  lavas,  and  in  terrestrial  volcanoes — radi- 
ating tubular  forms  result  from  radiating  movements  caused 
by  force  radiating  from  sources  of  heat  and  light. 


FIG.  106.  THE  GEYSERS  FROM  THE  HORSE-TRACK. 

The  hill  in  the  middle  is  volcanic.  From  it  the  top  of  Hecla  may  be  seen  to  the  right. 
To  the  left,  behind  the  hills,  and  out  of  sight,  is  Skjaklbreid.  Glaciers  arc  amongst  the 
hills  in  the  background.  (See  pp.  396,  413,  and  432.) 


CHAPTER   LVI. 

SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS,  TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES. 

CHAMBERS  in  a  crust  often  communicate  with  the  outside  by 
tubes ;  but  these  are  often  partially  or  wholly  filled  with 
vapours,  fluids,  and  solids,  which  escape  from  the  interior  of  a 
cooling  mass.  Sections  of  volcanic  bombs  (p.  379)  show  this 
structure  ;  the  growth  of  it  may  be  watched  in  models ;  and 
hot  springs  in  Iceland  give  samples  of  this  work  in  all 
stages. 

These  tubes  differ  from  rough  stone  tubes  near  them  ; 
they  are  smaller,  less  porous,  of  regular  shapes,  and  lined  with 
materials  deposited  by  water.  Some  are  partially  filled,  others 
are  choked  up. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  Great  Geyser  and  springs  about 
it  probably  communicate  with  the  interior  through  tubes 
blown  in  lava  near  the  base  of  a  small  volcano.  The  cut, 
p.  409,  shows  the  position  of  these  springs  at  the  foot  of  a 
hill.  The  Great  Geyser  now  spouts  through  a  smooth  vertical 
shaft,  which  is  chiefly  made  of  silica  deposited  by  the  water. 
The  mouth  of  this  steam-gun  spreads  a  little  near  the  top, 
somewhat  like  a  "  bell-mouthed  blunderbuss  ;"  and  about 
this  muzzle  is  a  shallow  saucer.  The  woodcut,  vol.  i.  p.  12, 
is  from  a  drawing  made  in  the  saucer  after  an  eruption. 
Beyond  the  rim  of  the  "  crater"  a  conical  mound  spreads  and 
slopes  every  way  at  a  small  angle.  The  woodcut,  p.  414,  is 


SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS,  ETC.  411 

from  a  drawing  made  at  the  base  of  the  mound  during  the 
eruption  which  emptied  the  crater,  but  did  not  empty  the 
pipe.  The  dimensions  ascertained  by  measuring  with  a  salmon- 
line  and  a  fishing-rod  are: — breadth  of  basin,  when  filled,  57 
feet  at  the  widest  place  ;  breadth  of  pipe,  about  20  feet,  but 
somewhat  less  where  the  walls  are  vertical ;  depth  from  the 
surface  of  the  water  in  the  centre  when  the  crater  is  full,  75 
feet ;  ledge  upon  which  a  plummet  rests  on  one  side,  45  feet. 
The  diagram,  p.  415,  is  drawn  to  scale  from  these  measure- 
ments. The  Strokr  or  Churn  is  a  conical  pit,  36  feet  deep. 
At  about  22^  feet  is  a  hole  in  one  of  the  sides  ;  at  19  feet  is 
a  hole  on  the  opposite  side.  Water  generally  fills  the  pit  to 
within  6  feet  of  the  top  ;  but  after  an  eruption  both  side 
vents  are  occasionally  seen.  The  mouth  of  the  pit  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  raised  wall  of  silicious  stone  (see  title-page,  vol. 
i.),  in  a  shallow  saucer  much  broken,  because  it  is  usually  dry 
and  exposed  to  frosts  and  the  feet  of  men  and  cattle.  At  the 
mouth  the  pipe  is  8  feet  wide ;  it  is  less  than  a  foot  wide  30 
feet  down.  A  third  pipe  spouts  occasionally ;  the  mouth  is  about 
the  size  of  a  hat,  and  the  hole  seems  to  expand  as  it  descends. 
Besides  these  three,  many  other  smooth  pits  and  pipes,  of 
various  shapes,  contain  boiling  water  and  mud  of  various 
colours  ;  and  these,  within  an  area  of  a  couple  of  acres,  are 
near  about  the  same  level  Higher  up  on  the  hill-side  are 
springs  which  do  not  boil  and  spout  now ;  and  still  higher, 
old  tubes  are  covered  or  filled,  and  their  sites  are  marked  by 
petrified  grasses  and  twigs  and  ripple-marked  stones,  like 
those  which  surround  the  Geyser.  All  these  forms  result 
from  movements  in  the  water,  and  these  from  the  earth's  heat. 
The  Great  Geyser  is  generally  full  up  to  the  brim,  and 
movements  at  the  surface  suggest  two  forces  nearly  balanced : 
these  are  weight  and  heat.  From  time  to  time  the  water 


412  SPEINGS,  CHAMBERS — 

rises  a  few  inches,  overflows  a  little,  and  sinks  quietly  down, 
to  rise  again  after  a  pause.  It  is  like  mercury  in  a  barometer 
when  gusts  pass.  Atmospheric  and  steam  pressure  may 
regulate  these  slow  movements,  and  the  eruptions.  Every  day, 
sometimes  every  hour,  the  kettle  simmers.  Bubbles  of  steam 
either  form  in  the  tube  or  escape  into  it  somewhere  near  the 
bottom,  and  these  condense  suddenly  in  colder  water.  The 
sound  is  like  that  of  a  blast  in  a  mine — a  quick,  loud  report, 
which  shakes  the  ground  to  a  great  distance.  When  fires  are 
lighted  in  a  steamboat,  the  noise  of  simmering  is  very  like  this 
natural  artillery  :  vibration  passes  through  boiler  and  ship 
to  water  and  air  about  it,  and  waves  spread  horizontally 
from  the  sides  of  the  ship.  The  sound  is  commonly  heard  in 
houses  warmed  with  hot-water  pipes  ;  and  walls  are  shaken 
when  bubbles  of  steam  collapse  in  boilers.  Steam  may  be 
watched  in  a  hot  spring  at  Eeykholt.  There  the  water  is 
very  clear,  and  about  three  feet  deep  in  the  basin  ;  bubbles, 
large  as  cricket-balls,  rise  at  intervals  out  of  a  hole ;  and  above 
this  vertical  tube  a  dome  of  water  rises  on  the  plane  sur- 
face. From  it  water  spreads  in  radiating  streams.  The  pool 
is  shaken  when  bubbles  collapse  ;  when  they  reach  the  sur- 
face a  dome  bursts,  and  a  fountain  of  drops  and  steam  spreads 
and  scatters  in  the  air.  In  larger  springs  the  bubbles  cannot 
be  seen,  but  they  can  be  heard.  They  do  not  always  reach  the 
surface,  but  they  start  an  upward  current,  which  makes  a 
dome  and  flow  in  the  circular  pool  which  fills  the  crater. 
This  movement  follows  the  well-known  sound  of  collapsing 
steam  simmering  on  a  large  scale.  The  radiating  flow  makes 
beautiful  curved  patterns  of  streams,  eddies,  whirlpools,  and 
waves,  which  are  reflected  from  the  sides  of  the  basin.  The 
brink  is  wetted  by  every  rise,  and  dries  after  every  fall ;  and 
after  each  change  vapour  leaves  the  solid  which  hot  water 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  413 

Lad  dissolved.  The  edge  of  the  crater  and  the  outside  of  the 
cone  grow  continually,  while  currents  shape  the  tube  and 
basin  by  rising  and  falling,  by  spreading  and  converging.  As 
in  a  model,  the  shape  of  the  tube  is  a  cast  of  the  currents 
which  move  in  it. 

Of  all  unpunctual  exhibitions  the  Geysers  are  the  most 
provoking.  In  1861  the  grand  fountains  went  off  as  a  party 
of  travellers  came  in  sight  of  the  place  (p.  409) ;  they  saw 
white  clouds  of  steam  three  miles  away,  and  that  was  all  they 
saw.  The  tent  was  pitched  and  a  watch  kept;  but  the 
watchers  fell  asleep,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Great  Geyser  ex- 
ploded without  rousing  the  tired  sleepers.  Every  few  hours 
came  the  warning — thud,  thud,  thud — which  kept  expecta- 
tion on  the  stretch  ;  but  nothing  came  of  it  all  next  day  and 
all  next  night.  One  man  was  packed  up  in  a  bag  of  mackin- 
tosh cloth,  and  laid  out  with  his  face  to  the  spring,  to  make 
sure  of  one  sentry  ;  but  he  saw  nothing.  He  looked  very 
picturesque,  somewhat  like  a  mummy  extracted  from  its 
wooden  case.  All  next  morning  the  water  rose  and  fell,  and 
sank  and  rose  again,  balancing.  Tired  of  waiting,  the  party 
set  off  at  last,  and  met  a  fresh  party  going  to  the  place.  They 
arrived  in  the  nick  of  time,  saw  an  eruption,  and  returned 
next  day.  In  1862  the  disappointed  returned.  One  party, 
who  had  very  little  time  to  spare,  rode  in  hot  haste  to  Hauka- 
dal,  and  saw  many  eruptions  in  a  few  hours.  Those  who 
followed  more  leisurely  waited  for  three  days  ;  but  this  time 
they  did  see  the  show.  It  was  a  grand  display,  and  well 
worth  all  the  waiting.  Instead  of  ending  suddenly  or  gra- 
dually, the  steam-salute  shot  faster  and  faster ;  thuds  fol- 
lowed each  other  rapidly,  and  the  whole  ground  shook ; 
then  the  sound  of  dashing  water,  the  music  of  waves, 
was  added  to  the  turmoil.  A  great  dome  rose  in  the 


SPRINGS,   CHAMBERS,  TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.        415 


middle  of  the  pool,  and  frequent  waves  dashed  over  the 
edge  of  the  basin,  while  streams  overflowed  and  drenched 
the  whole  mound.  Great  clouds  of  rolling  steam  burst 
out  of  the  water  domes,  and  rose  in  the  still  air,  swelling 
like  white  cumulus  clouds  against  a  hard  blue  sky.  Up  they 
rose,  whirling  rings  and  spheres  of  vapour  driven  by  the 
earth's  radiation  ;  and  down  they  came,  showers  of  drops 
dragged  back  by  gravitation.  The  underground  artillery  was 
silenced,  for  steam  had  the  mastery  of  pressure,  and  the  kettle 
boiled  over.  At  last  the  whole  pool,  50  and  odd  feet  wide, 


FIG.  108.    STEOKR  AND  GEYSER. 

rose  up  a  single  dome  of  boiling  water  and  burst,  and  then 
the  column  in  the  tube,  70  feet  deep  and  20  wide,  was  shot 
out  of  the  bell-mouthed  blunderbuss  with  a  great  burst  of 
steam.  The  charge  scattered  as  shown  in  the  woodcut ;  it 
rose  about  60  feet,  and  most  of  it  fell  back,  and  sank  in  with 
a  rush ;  and  so  the  glittering  fountain  rose  thrice  like  some 
mighty  growth.  After  the  last  effort,  the  pool  was  empty, 
and  the  pipe  also  for  a  depth  of  6  feet ;  the  spilt  water  was 
steaming  down  a  stone  aqueduct  of  its  own  building,  and  it 


41 G  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS — 

tumbled  into  a  cold  burn  in  the  wet  muir  at  last.  By  this 
eruption  the  tube  was  scoured  and  smoothed,  and  something 
was  added  to  the  basin  and  the  mound ;  for  mutton-bones, 
feathers,  and  suchlike,  were  covered  with  a  crust  in  a  year. 
Each  drop,  large  and  small,  had  its  own  motion  while  it  flew  ; 
it  described  a  curved  path,  revolved,  and  threw  off  part  of  its 
mass  in  steam.  If  it  travelled  far  enough,  it  might  freeze  ;  if 
hot  enough,  silica  held  in  solution  by  water  would  be  left  by 
steam  in  the  air.  Inner  surfaces  grow  inwards,  upper  and 
outer  surfaces  grow  upwards  and  outwards  ;  and  so  this  pipe 
will  choke  at  last,  if  the  growth  continues.  The  mechanism  of 
the  Great  Geyser  cannot  be  seen,  because  the  water  is  too  deep. 
The  Churn  is  sometimes  emptied  so  far  that  the  works  are  seen. 
Strokr  is  a  conical  oval  pit,  less  than  six  inches  wide 
near  the  bottom.  The  size  of  the  plummet  used  makes  a 
difference  in  the  soundings,  and  possibly  there  may  be 
some  small  steam-pipe  at  the  end  of  the  cone.  The 
water  is  always  surging,  growling,  and  frothing  about  within 
6  feet  of  the  top.  Steam  rises  through  a  hot  column  13 
feet  deep,  and  never  collapses,  because  there  is  less  pressure 
to  be  overcome ;  this  well  boils,  but  does  not  simmer.  By 
turning  a  barrowful  of  turf  into  the  pit,  this  kettle  is  made 
to  boil  over ;  steam  is  stopped,  the  water  is  stilled  for  some 
minutes,  and  the  mud  is  greatly  heated  below.  Then  a  dome 
grows  and  bursts,  and  wad  and  water  and  steam  from  the  gun 
grow  up  like  a  giant  sheaf  of  corn.  First  the  water  in  the 
well  makes  a  furious  swirl,  like  an  eddy  from  a  stricken 
whale  in  shoal  water ;  and  then  the  column  rises  and  over- 
flows slowly  with  increasing  swiftness,  till  the  dome  rises 
up  and  bursts,  to  make  way  for  a  steam-bubble  as  big  as  a 
balloon.  Up  go  the  projectiles,  and  down  they  come  in 
showers  and  streams,  to  rise  again  with  furious  bursts  ;  and 


TUBES,  CKATERS,  AND  CONES.  417 

woe  betide  the  spectator  who  gets  within  range  of  this  scald- 
ing spray. 

After  one  of  these  displays  the  water-level  was  more  than 
20  feet  from  the  edge,  and  then  at  19  feet  the  mouth  of 
one  tube  was  seen.  From  this  hole,  which  was  about  half  a 
foot  in  diameter,  boiling  water  and  steam  jets  squirted  into 
the  pit  at  intervals  ;  and  it  soon  tilled  to  the  old  level,  and 
hissed,  and  growled,  and  frothed,  as  before.  Another  hole 
was  seen  by  an  Icelander  in  the  opposite  side  of  the  pit  at 
22  feet  from  the  top.  The  spouting  of  Strokr  is  caused 
by  the  shape  of  a  steam  chamber,  and  the  mechanism  is  the 
same  as  that  of  a  closed  kettle  or  the  models  above  de- 
scribed (p.  405).  The  shape  of  the  pit  results  from  the  move- 
ments of  the  water,  and  these  result  from  temperature  and 
hydraulic  pressure.  Because  the  movements  are  violent  and 
very  irregular  this  tube  is  rough,  and  layers  deposited  in  it 
are  strangely  contorted  (see  title-page,  vol.  i.) 

In  all  probability  the  mechanism  of  the  larger  fountain  is 
built  on  the  same  principle  of  steam  chamber  and  tube.  The 
lateral  steam-pipe  in  Strokr  has  a  projecting  roof;  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Geyser-pipe  a  plummet  rests  on  some  ledge  ;* 
and  when  the  tube  is  filling  steam-bubbles  rise  at  the  place 
where  they  would  appear  if  they  came  from  under  this  roof. 
By  long  practice  a  fisherman  is  able  to  tell  what  goes  on  at 
the  end  of  his  line.  An  old  comrade,  a  salmon-rod  which  has 
earned  many  a  good  meal,  was  used  to  get  a  large  thermometer 
into  the  middle  of  the  Geyser  tube.  When  the  weight  was 
near  the  ledge,  after  it  had  fallen  from  it  and  sunk  a  few  feet 
some  force  appeared  to  lift  it,  and  drive  it  about,  for  it  strug- 
gled like  a  fish  in  a  flurry.  When  it  was  hauled  up  it  had 

*  Mr.  Bryson  of  Edinburgh  was  the  first  to  discover  this  ledge,  so  far  as  I 
know.     His  discovery  was  tested  afterwards,  and  the  ledge  is  a  fact. 
VOL.  II.  2  E 


418  SPRINGS,   CHAMBERS — 

burst.  The  explanation  suggested  by  the  shape  of  Strokr,  and 
by  numerous  models,  was  that  steam,  or  currents  of  very  hot 
water,  were  spouting  sideways  into  the  tube  under  the  ledge. 
When  the  plummet  sank  lower  it  ceased  to  struggle,  and 
pulled  steadily  at  the  rod.  According  to  experiments  made 
by  Mr.  Bryson  in  1862,  the  temperatures  marked  in  the 
diagram  were  overcome  by  the  pressure.* 

A  column  37  feet  deep  prevented  the  formation  of  steam 
at  253°  of  Fahrenheit.  A  deeper  column  of  75  feet  made 
steam  bubbles  collapse  at  the  high  temperature  of  270°,  but 
soon  after  this  temperature  was  got  the  Geyser  exploded. 
It  seems  impossible  that  a  layer  of  lava  or  of  any  other  ma- 
terial only  75  feet  thick  can  still  continue  hot  while  the  sur- 
face has  been  cool  ever  since  the  Geysers  were  first  discovered. 
The  source  from  which  the  heat  comes  must  be  far  deeper ; 
and  probably  steam  rising  from  great  depths  heats  all  these 
kettles  and  makes  them  boil  over. 

The  Little  Geyser  spouts  occasionally  without  any  warning, 
and  rises,  50  feet  at  least,  like  a  fountain,  from  its  narrow  pipe. 
The  rest  of  this  family  bubble  and  sputter,  each  on  a  different 
plan. 

The  Oxhver,  like  the  Geyser,  is  near  high  ground  in  a 
district  of  recent  violent  disturbance,  but  on  the  north  side  of 
the  island,  about  140  miles  away.  A  number  of  pipes,  with 
craters  and  cones  formed  about  them,  are  near  a  marsh  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill ;  of  these,  one  is  called  the  Bath-house,  because, 
according  to  tradition,  it  burst  up  through  the  floor  of  a  house. 

*  Mr.  Bryson's  plan  of  taking  the  temperature  was  ingenious.  A  number 
of  thermometers  were  filled  but  not  sealed.  These  were  lowered,  and  part  of 
the  mercury  was  spilt.  "When  it  cooled  it  left  an  open  space.  By  heating 
the  tube  till  the  space  was  filled  again  the  temperature  was  got.  A  common 
maximum  thermometer  made  for  a  high  temperature  (260°)  burst  or  was 
smashed  at  the  first  trial. 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  419 

The  woodcut,  vol.  i.  p.  16,  is  from  a  sketch  made  in  1861.  It 
is  a  small  copy  of  the  Geyser,  and  the  water  balanced  in  the 
same  way  while  dinner  was  cooking  in  the  overflow.  Close  to 
this  pipe,  in  the  same  stone  mound,  is  a  copy  of  Strokr,  a  rough 
warty  irregular  basin,  with  a  wall  about  a  conical  pit,  in  which 
water  seethes  furiously  within  about  six  feet  of  the  top.  The 
Badstua  explodes  occasionally  when  the  steam  gets  up  ; 
the  other  is  always  expending  all  the  force  it  borrows  from 
some  chink  or  hole  in  a  steam  chamber  under  ground.  A 
third  pit  is  called  the  Oxwell,  because  an  ox  fell  in  and  was 
boiled.  Bouillon  came  with  the  first  eruption,  bouilli  at  the 
second,  and  a  third  effort  cast  out  bones.  This  well  is  within 
100  yards  of  the  other  two,  has  an  intermediate  shape  and 
depth,  and  works  on  a  different  plan.  The  shallow  conical 
miniature  churn  is  always  boiling  furiously.  The  deeper 
Oxwell  boils  over  at  intervals  of  ten  minutes :  the  basin  is 
rough,  and  the  tube  somewhat  conical.  The  deepest  of  this 
set — the  Bath-room — simmers  and  shoots  underground,  and 
balances  on  the  steam,  but  explodes  occasionally  when  the 
steam  gets  up.  The  shape  of  it  is  like  that  of  the  larger  pipe, 
which  plays  on  the  same  plan. 

The  level  of  the  Kitchen,  above  described  (p.  397),  is  con- 
siderably higher  than  the  level  of  the  Geyser,  and  therefore 
steam  has  a  greater  pressure  to  overcome.  The  water  balances, 
but  neither  seethes  nor  simmers,  nor  boils  over.  The  shape  of 
it  differs,  for  it  has  reached  old  age.  The  sides  of  the  tube 
are  never  above  water,  so  they  gain  nothing  by  evaporation, 
and  grow  slowly  inwards.  The  waste  is  small,  so  the  pipe 
must  be  narrow  below.  The  chief  growth  is  at  the  inner  edge 
of  the  highest  layer,  where  the  stone  is  alternately  wet  and 
dry,  and  for  that  reason  the  large  rough  tube  of  the  Kitchen 
is  roofing  itself  with  a  slab.  A  bridge  spans  the  pool  already, 


420  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS — 

and  the  edges  are  growing  horizontally.  When  this  flat  roof 
is  built,  it  will  either  burst  or  keep  down  the  steam  in  a  closed 
chamber  of  large  size.  Many  such  caverns  are  hidden  under 
loose  rubbish.  About  the  Kitchen,  holes  open  occasionally, 
and  betray  them ;  and,  on  a  still  cold  evening,  white  columns 
of  vapour  rise  up  and  hover  like  ghosts  of  buried  Geysers  above 
their  hidden  tombs. 

So  far,  one  result  of  terrestrial  radiation  is  to  build  cham- 
bers, tubes,  basins,  and  truncated  cones,  with  materials  held 
in  solution  by  hot  water,  brought  from  below  to  the  surface, 
and  deposited  there  at  low  temperatures.  The  same  action 
carried  further  makes  a  sealed  cone.  Near  Eeykholt,  about 
50  odd  miles  to  the  N.W.  of  the  Geysers,  a  spring  has  built 
a  mound  in  the  middle  of  a  cold  river.  Steam  rises  through 
the  gravel,  and  the  spring  boils  furiously,  and  boils  over  every 
few  minutes.  It  rises  through  tubes  with  small  basins  at  the 
top  of  a  steep  gray  mound  some  10  or  12  feet  high.  Neigh- 
bouring hills,  which  make  one  side  of  the  strath  in  which 
the  river  flows,  are  made  of  bedded  trap,  the  beds  dipping 
towards  central  high  hills  to  the  east  of  the  place.  A  fault 
cuts  vertically  through  these  beds,  and  it  seems  to  run  to- 
wards the  place  where  this  hot  spring  has  built  a  stone 
mound  in  cold  water.  Some  few  miles  away,  a  whole  cluster 
of  springs  have  been  spouting  for  many  years,  and  at  Eeykholt 
is  the  bath  in  which  Snorro  bathed  centuries  ago.  Opposite 
to  the  spring  is  another  "  fault "  in  the  old  beds.  In  No. 
1,  p.  379,  a  whole  system  of  "  faults  "  may  be  traced  from  the 
crust  to  the  centre  of  a  stone,  and  many  of  these  pass  through 
chambers  which  were  hot.  The  terrestrial  heat  which  boils 
all  these  springs  may  be  at  a  great  depth,  and  faults  may  be 
ducts  for  superheated  steam.  The  hot  region  certainly  is 
lower  than  the  sea-level.  A  large  spouting  spring  is  close  to 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  421 

the  sea  at  the  southern  shore  of  the  great  bay  of  Faxefjordr. 
No  near  ground  is  high  enough  to  account  for  this  fountain, 
and  the  sea  would  have  cooled  this  point  long  ago.  The  fires 
which  work  these  engines  at  so  many  distant  points  must  be 
far  down,  and  the  power  the  same  which  builds  mountains. 
Sixty  miles  about  north  from  Eeykjanes,  Snsefells  Jokull  is 
built  on  the  end  of  a  point.  It  is  5808  Danish  feet  high,  and 
the  shape  of  it  is  very  like  that  of  a  mound  built  by  a  hot 
spring.  A  sketch  of  Snsefell  is  at  p.  85,  vol.  i.  All  these 
forms,  which  are  seen  growing  slowly  about  hot  springs — 
chambers,  tubes,  craters  and  cones,  domes  and  streams — 
abound  in  lava  and  in  mountains  in  Iceland. 

At  Myvatn,  in  the  north  of  Iceland,  is  a  cluster  of  extinct 
volcanoes.  These  rise  6  feet,  or  10  or  12,  or  50  or  60 ;  and 
near  them  are  mountains  of  like  shape,  which  would  cover 
half  the  site  of  London.  Fifty  or  sixty  of  the  small  hills  are 
within  a  square  mile,  and  great  streams  and  lakes  of  frozen 
lava  cover  neighbouring  districts  as  big  as  small  counties. 
Some  of  these  are  bare ;  others  are  covered  by  sandy  and 
marshy  plains,  by  large  lakes  of  water,  and  by  dry  deserts 
of  gravel  and  sand.  Through  these,  large  glacier-rivers  cut 
channels,  and  they  build  stratified  deltas,  pack  silt,  and  make 
sections.  A  few  days  spent  in  this  country  are  worth  whole 
years  of  geological  study  elsewhere.  It  would  be  easy  to  cut 
through  many  of  the  small  mounds ;  but  their  structure  is  so 
evident,  and  so  many  samples  of  them  in  all  states  of  growth 
and  decay  abound,  that  to  dig  would  be  loss  of  labour. 

In  the  first  place,  many  chambers  are  open. 

Close  to  the  small  cones — so  near  as  to  make  it  evident 
that  one  set  of  forces  shaped  the  whole — the  upper  crust  of  the 
lava  was  blown  into  small  domes,  like  bubbles  blown  on 
metals  or  on  boiling  water.  Many  of  these  domes  are  broken, 


422  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS — 

so  that  hollows  beneath  can  be  seen.  When  snow  covers 
this  tract  in  winter,  swelling  forms  remain  to  show  what  is 
beneath  ;  and  if  the  earth  has  an  igneous  crust,  upthrows  in 
sedimentary  rocks  may,  in  like  manner,  betray  buried  cham- 
bers of  like  origin.  Silt-beds  are  now  forming  in  the  lake, 
above  molten  lava-domes,  and  the  sea  and  its  sedimentary 
formations  may  cover  larger  hills  of  the  same  kind.  The 
whole  of  a  large  undulating  plain  near  Myvatn  is  thus  cham- 
bered. Near  a  church  on  the  west  side,  a  track  leads  over  a 
series  of  vaults,  most  of  which  are  split  at  the  crown  of  the 
arch,  and  through  these  rifts  water  is  seen  flowing  over  the 
next  layer  of  a  series.  A  section  of  one  of  these  vaults  is 
exactly  like  a  low  flat  bridge  spanning  a  pool,  but  it  is  part  of 
a  bubble,  formed  as  bubbles  form  on  the  Geyser  before  it  ex- 
plodes, or  on  a  kettle  when  it  boils.  The  upper  crust  is  three 
to  four  feet  thick  ;  the  surface  is  wrinkled  ;  the  roof  of  the 
chamber  is  smooth  ;  and  a  section  of  it  shows  a  series  of 
bent  layers  like  those  which  roof  in  Surtshellr  (vol.  i.  p.  429). 
The  floor  is  rough  and  wrinkled  like  the  outer  surface.  The 
dome  was  blown  while  the  floor  was  fluid,  and  the  floor  flowed 
and  froze  after  the  roof  was  made.  If  two  concentric  shells 
have  thus  formed,  any  number  of  them  may  exist  at  any 
depths,  and  chambers  may  be  of  any  size.  The  crust  of  the 
earth  may  be  like  the  crusts  of  the  stones,  p.  379.  If  such 
large  chambers  exist,  it  must  be  a  question  of  power  and  re- 
sistance— heat  and  the  strength  of  the  boiler — whether  the 
roof  shall  bend  or  burst,  leak,  yield,  or  resist. 

The  same  lava-domes,  the  same  vaulted  lava-ice,  abounds 
at  Eeykjalid,  on  the  other  side  of  Myvatn.  A  stream  poured 
over  some  rough  ground,  and  froze  to  a  thickness  of  four  or 
five  feet :  it  poured  on  below,  and  left  the  ice  stranded.  It  is 
rough  and  broken,  cracked,  starred,  and  uneven,  like  "  blind 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES. 


423 


Fia.  109.  SECTIONS  THROUGH  THE  SURFACE  OF  A  FROZEN  LAVA-STREAM,  which  flowed 
downwards  (in  the  impressions  on  this  page).  See  pp.  390  and  400.  The  surfaces  are  to  the 
right,  and  show  the  characteristic  form  of  a  lava  flow  of  small  size. — Printed  from  the  Stones. 


424  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS— 

ice"  on  a  pond,  or  ice  stranded  by  the  ebb ;  but  here  every 
movement  is  recorded  by  wrinkled  folds  on  the  surface.  A 
little  way  from  this  shattered  crust  the  horse-track  leads  over 
a  dome-shaped,  swelling,  wrinkled  surface,  starred  and  torn, 
but  not  broken  up.  Under  that  roof  are  chambers,  and  the 
tramp  of  horses  rings  hollow  as  they  pace  along.  Cracks  in 
these  domes  show  that  some  upward  thrust  tore  them  while 
they  were  tough.  These  are  "craters  of  elevation"  in  all 
stages  of  growth. 

The  lava  at  Surtshellr  and  at  Thingvalla  has  sunk,  so  as 
to  make  a  "crater  of  depression,"  if  such  a  phrase  may  be 
used ;  and  the  broken  edges  at  Thingvalla  are  hundreds  of 
feet  thick.  Forms  which  resulted  from  freezing  can  be  seen 
in  section  in  the  rifts. 

In  Henderson's  Iceland  is  an  account  of  a  great  eruption 
which  took  place  in  1783.  At  page  225  is  this  passage  : — 

"  The  torrents  (of  lava)  that  continued  to  be  poured  down  proceeded 
slowly  over  the  tract  of  ancient  lava  to  the  south  and  south-west  of 
Skal,  and,  setting  fire  to  the  melted  substances,  they  underwent  a  fresh 
fusion,  and  were  heaved  up  to  a  considerable  elevation.  It  also  rushed 
into  the  subterraneous  caverns  ;  and,  during  its  progress  underground, 
it  threw  up  the  crust  either  to  the  side  or  to  a  great  height  in  the  air. 
In  such  places,  as  it  proceeded  below  a  thick  indurated  crust,  where 
there  was  no  vent  for  the  steam,  the  surface  was  burst  in  pieces,  and 
thrown  up  with  the  utmost  violence  and  noise,  to  the  height  of  near 
180  feet." 

Here  was  an  upheaval  of  a  tough  surface,  and  the  bursting 
of  a  hard  crust,  by  imprisoned  air  and  steam  expanded  by 
heat,  and  the  action  was  on  a  large  scale.  At  page  228  it  is 
said  :- — 

"  With  respect  to  the  dimensions  of  the  lava,  its  utmost  length 
from  the  volcano,  along  the  channel  of  the  Skapta  down  to  Hnallsar 
in  Medalland,  is  about  50  miles  ;  and  its  greatest  breadth,  in  the  low 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  425 

country,  about  12  or  15  miles.  The  Hverfisfliot  branch  may  be  about 
40  miles  in  length,  and  7  at  its  utmost  breadth.  Its  height,  in  the 
level  countiy,  does  not  exceed  100  feet ;  but  in  some  parts  of  the 
Skapta  channel  it  is  not  less  than  600  feet  high." 

A  tract  of  about  1500  square  miles  was  covered  with 
fluid  lava  in  a  few  days  to  a  depth  equal  to  the  height  of 
moderate  hills,  and  that  amount  of  matter  was  pumped  out 
from  under  the  earth's  crust,  and  flowed  over  it,  leaving,  it 
must  be  assumed,  an  equal  hollow  beneath. 

It  is  hard  to  guess  what  is  the  power  of  an  engine  whose 
boiler  may  have  the  dimensions  of  the  Firth  of  Forth  or 
the  Firth  of  Clyde,  and  whose  furnace  is  hot  enough  to  fuse 
lava. 

If  lava-bubbles  were  blown  by  steam  generated  in  small 
cracks  and  caverns,  what  would  the  steam  of  the  larger  cavern 
accomplish  under  the  pressure  of  such  a  roof  ? 

In  old  lava-streams  near  SkjaldbreiS  many  samples  of 
like  work  may  be  seen.  One  great  bubble,  as  big  as  a  cellar, 
with  a  roof  two  feet  thick,  has  a  large  open  angular  gap  in  the 
top.  It  was  burst,  and  the  keystone  of  the  arch  was  blown 
to  a  distance  of  ten  or  twelve  yards,  where  it  now  rests  upside 
down.  It  must  weigh  some  tons. 

If  domes  on  a  biscuit  are  reproduced  in  lava  hundreds  of 
feet  thick,  similar  domes  of  greater  dimensions  may  build 
volcanoes  in  proportion  to  their  size.  The  crusts  which  are 
seen  in  cliffs  along  the  coast  of  Iceland  may  roof  in  caverns 
from  which  Hecla  grew  ;  for  cones  of  like  shape  grew  from 
smaller  lava-crusts  at  My  vatn.  It  is  not  possible  to  get  at  the 
works  of  the  big  engine,  but  it  is  very  easy  to  dissect  a  little 
one  ;  models  can  be  made  and  broken ;  and  cones  and  craters 
near  Myvatn  are  as  easily  seen  as  models. 

Chambers  abound.     Tubes  of  lava  like  Tintron  (p.  398) 


426  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS  — 

also  abound  in  the  district.  Near  the  church  are  cones  and 
craters  of  every  pattern. 

Some  are  truncated  cones,  with  a  conical  hollow  in  the 
top  :  these  are  "cones  of  eruption" — mere  ramparts  of  black 
frothy  cinders  without  one  solid  block  or  stream  of  lava  out- 
side. They  are  regular  in  form,  and  grass  is  beginning  to 
sprout  on  their  smooth  sloping  sides.  Rain  is  beginning  to 
furrow  the  slope ;  and  in  winter  the  mound  is  covered  with 
snow.  The  little  volcano  is  then  like  Sneefell,  or  any  other 
high  cone  of  eruption.  The  shape  is  enough  to  betray  the 
extinct  volcano  in  the  Andes,  or  elsewhere.  In  this  case  a 
circular  rampart  of  ashes  conceals  the  tube  through  which  a 
fountain  of  vapours  and  stones  played.  Vesuvius  and  Heel  a 
are  like  this  specimen.  It  would  be  easy  to  cut  through  the 
little  mound,  but  a  walk  of  a  few  yards  does  equally  well. 

One  regular  truncated  cone  of  eruption,  made  of  loose 
cinders,  stands  with  part  of  the  base  in  the  lake,  and  it  has 
been  tilted  bodily  to  one  side,  but  so  quietly  that  this  mound 
of  loose  ashes  still  retains  its  shape.  It  is  now  covered  by  a 
fine  sward.  In  the  centre  of  the  crater,  the  end  of  the  lava- 
tube,  through  which  the  fountain  played,  is  seen.  Six  strange 
weird-looking  blocks  of  dark  rough  lava,  like  the  roof  of  the 
Tintron  tube,  peep  through  the  turf  like  a  circle  of  stones 
about  a  hero's  grave.  These  mark  the  source  whence  the 
cinders  came — the  place  where  a  choked  tube  is  buried  under 
a  circular  barrow,  which  a  miniature  volcano  piled  over  its 
own  head  before  it  expired.  If  the  mound  were  in  England 
it  might  pass  for  a  work  of  art,  It  is  no  work  of  human 
skill,  but  a  sample  of  a  cone  of  eruption — a  too] -mark  of  a 
natural  engine  worked  by  terrestrial  radiation.  It  would  be 
easy  to  dig  out  the  buried  tube,  but  a  walk  of  a  hundred  yards 
does  better. 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  427 

Close  at  hand  is  another  specimen  of  the  tribe,  which  has 
not  grown  so  far  as  to  hide  the  lava  core  of  a  cone  of  erup- 
tion. In  the  middle  of  a  circular  mound  of  loose  ashes  stands 
a  truncated  cone  of  lava,  with  a  plain  on  the  top.  In  the 
middle  of  the  plain  is  a  depression,  with  a  set  of  radiating 
cracks,  and  round  the  edges  of  the  plain  is  a  raised  rim.  The 
work  stopped  at  the  stage  which  Vesuvius  had  reached. 
When  the  crater  was  full  to  the  brim  (p.  403),  it  was  like  the 
basin  of  the  Geyser  before  an  eruption  (p.  414) ;  and  the  last 
movement  was  downwards,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sealing-wax 
tube  described  above  (p.  406). 

In  the  first  of  these  three  mounds  the  tube  is  hidden  by 
the  stone  fountain  which  rose  from  it  and  fell  about  it ;  in 
the  second  the  end  of  the  pipe  projects  ;  in  the  last  case  the 
top  of  a  lava-cone  frozen  about  a  lava-spring,  the  frozen 
lava-pool  in  the  lava-crater,  and  the  choked  up  lava-tube, 
stand  together  in  the  centre  of  the  ring  of  projectiles,  which 
scattered  as  the  drops  are  scattered  from  the  craters  of 
springs,  or  from  boiling  water  anywhere.  If  the  power  had 
been  sufficient  to  keep  this  tube  open  and  continue  the  work, 
the  ring  of  ashes  would  have  risen  till  the  edge  of  the  tube 
was  at  the  bottom  of  a  funnel,  like  that  which  surrounded 
the  tube  of  Vesuvius  in  1842  (p.  402).  But  the  power 
was  spent  before  this  hill  had  grown  ;  the  fountains  ceased 
to  play,  the  spring  froze,  and  the  shape  remains  to  tell  its 
own  history  of  the  works  of  Frost  and  Fire.  This  lava- 
mound  is  about  the  size  of  a  small  glass-house  chimney; 
but  within  sight  of  it  is  a  mountain  of  the  very  same 
pattern,  which,  though  not  so  high  as  Vesuvius,  covers  more 
ground.  It  would  be  easy  to  quarry  a  hole  in  this  specimen, 
and  as  it  sounds  hollow,  there  may  be  a  chamber  within  the 
mound.  It  would  be  easy  to  cut  a  trench  through  the  circular 


428  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS— 

mound  of  ashes,  but  sections  of  similar  mounds  are  close  at 
hand. 

At  Bonn,  on  the  Ehine,  the  seven  hills  are  larger  specimens 
of  this  class.  In  1853  the  river  was  crossed  from  Bonn,  and 
several  of  the  hills  were  scaled.  They  are  truncated  cones, 
with  plains  on  the  top,  and  one  at  least  has  part  of  a  circular 
rampart  about  the  plain.  If  these  ever  were  surrounded  by 
rings  or  mounds  of  projected  ashes,  they  have  been  washed 
away  ;  but  ancient  lava-streams  which  flowed  from  these  old 
lava-springs  can  be  traced  along  the  slopes  opposite  Bonn. 
The  Castle  of  Godesberg  is  on  a  mound  of  the  same  descrip- 
tion ;  and  all  these  sound  hollow,  though  made  of  rock.  At 
Myvatn  small  lava-cones  are  in  all  stages  of  growth,  and  some 
are  in  fact  hollow  cones,  like  Tintron. 

Many  of  these  have  no  mounds  of  ashes  about  them  ; 
others  have.  One  stands  in  a  ring  about  160  yards  across ; 
the  lava-cone  is  about  30  feet  high,  and  it  has  a  circular  plain 
on  the  top,  with  a  rim  about  the  edge,  and  a  hollow  above  the 
place  where  the  tube  ought  to  be  ;  it  rings  hollow.  The  sides 
are  steep,  and  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  reach  the  top.  The 
plain  seems  to  consist  of  balls  of  lava  as  big  as  grape-shot,  set 
in  frozen  lava  like  plums  in  pudding,  or  barley  in  broth. 
Close  at  hand  is  another  specimen  without  the  roof.  It  is 
about  nine  feet  high,  and  shaped  like  a  glass-house  or  a  lamp- 
shade ;  it  is  made  of  rough  clinkery  lava,  and  rises  through  a 
plain  of  cinders.  Near  it  is  another  about  the  same  size  and 
shape,  but  one  side  has  broken  down,  leaving  a  shell  about 
three  feet  thick. 

It  is  easy  to  creep  into  these  and  others  like  them.  In 
some  the  inner  surface  is  smoothed,  and  grooved,  and  plastered 
by  fountains  of  vapour  or  fluid,  which  first  blew  them  and 
then  spouted  through  them,  and  so  rifled  the  gun.  Close  to 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  429 

one  of  these  a  lava-bomb  was  found  (p.  379).  Near  to  these 
are  domes  which  have  burst,  bubbles  which  have  not  burst, 
and  frozen  lava-springs,  with  a  dome  surrounded  by  frozen 
wrinkled  streams,  which  radiate  from  the  source. 

The  growth  of  a  volcanic  mound  is  thus  illustrated  by 
small  samples  in  all  stages,  and  the  mechanism  of  the  small 
engine  is  well  seen. 

A  lake  of  lava  froze  while  boiling.  Chambers  formed 
under  the  crust,  and  hot  vapours  which  made  the  chambers 
struggled  to  escape  from  them.  In  some  cases  a  bubble  was 
blown  ;  in  some  the  bubble  became  a  hollow  cone  ;  in  other 
cases  the  chamber  leaked.  Tubes  were  blown,  and  through 
them  springs  of  lava,  or  fountains  of  stony  froth  and  vapours, 
were  driven  by  the  earth's  radiation,  as  fountains  of  steam  and 
hot  water  are  driven  by  it  through  geyser  tubes. 

Large  specimens  of  like  work  are  in  Iceland,  and  may  be 
seen  in  a  couple  of  months. 

Near  Myvatn  is  Krabla  ;  and  one  set  of  rocks  on  that 
mountain  appears  to  be  parts  of  a  hollow  cone  of  lava, 
through  which  hot  vapour  escaped  and  fused  the  inner  sur- 
face, to  make  obsidian.  The  place  was  seen  late  in  the  even- 
ing, and  this  may  be  an  error. 

At  the  foot  of  this  mountain  are  many  old  craters  and 
many  boiling  springs,  and  from  it  old  lava-streams  diverge  in 
many  directions. 

From  the  top  of  any  hill  in  this  neighbourhood  scores  of 
larger  cones  of  eruption  may  be  counted,  and  small  ones  may 
be  reckoned  by  hundreds. 

In  crossing  the  island  from  Hecla,  by  way  of  Sprengisandr, 
still  larger  specimens  rise  up  through  snow  and  ice  on  all  sides. 

Hecla  is  a  cone  of  eruption,  and  round  the  base  of  it  are 
enormous  tracts  of  lava,  great  frozen  plains  without  a  blade 


430  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS— 

of  grass,  in  which  strange  weird  solid  fountains  of  frozen  lava 
stand  up  like  black  monsters  where  they  froze.  The  base  of 
Hecla  is  wide,  and  the  crater  is  small  in  proportion  ;  another 
effort  would  finish  the  cone,  and  roof  the  tube  like  Tintron. 
But  the  tube  is  there,  though  buried  ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
power  accumulates  sufficiently  it  will  burst,  as  it  did  a  few 
years  ago.  Where  it  will  burst  is  a  question  of  power  and 
resistance.  The  last  eruption  broke  out  near  the  top,  and  a 
considerable  lava-stream  flowed  down  a  hollow,  froze  sud- 
denly, and  formed  clinkers.  The  only  substance  to  which 
these  can  be  compared  is  "  pulled  bread " — crumb  torn  to 
bits  and  baked  hard.* 

All  down  the  Snrefell  peninsula,  on  both  sides,  are  cones 
and  craters  of  many  shapes ;  but  specimens  like  them  all  may 
be  found  at  Myvatn  in  a  morning's  walk. 

From  Helgafell  a  great  yellow  mountain  is  seen.  It  was 
a  cone  and  crater  of  eruption ;  but  one  side  of  the  crater  burst 
out,  and  the  fallen  rubbish  makes  a  stream  of  heaps,  sorted 
apparently  by  a  water-flood.  Perhaps  a  lava-stream  did  the 
work,  and  is  buried  under  the  floats. 

At  the  head  of  this  regiment  of  volcanoes  is  the  great  cone 
of  Suaefell,  with  its  plains  of  basalt. 

All  round  Faxefjord  are  small  lava-craters,  surrounded  by 
lava-streams,  which  rose  and  flowed  every  way  as  from  a 
spring.  One  of  these  is  Eldborg  (fire  castle.)  It  is  made  of 
lava,  disposed  in  beds  which  dip  every  way  from  the  edge 
of  the  crater.  The  stone  is  spongy  and  brittle,  and  it  must 
have  seethed  like  Strokr  when  it  overflowed.  At  the  bottom 
of  this  great  cup  is  a  boss  of  hard  lava,  the  crown  of  a  solid 
pillar,  which  froze  in  the  tube.  For  miles  around  this  frozen 
lava-spring  streams  radiate.  The  newest  are  clinkers,  piled 

*  For  a  sketch  of  Hecla,  see  title-page,  vol.  i. 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  431 

in  the  wildest  confusion.  To  climb  over  them  is  almost 
impossible.  Tt  is  exceedingly  dangerous  ground,  for  the  stones 
are  hidden  by  mosses  and  lichens,  and  feet  and  hands  slip  into 
unseen  rifts.  The  stones  move  easily,  and  break  ;  and  the  sur- 
face cuts  like  shivered  glass.  Older  and  larger  streams,  which 
came  from  this  source,  are  like  other  lavas  in  Iceland — com- 
pact, firm  stone,  with  a  wrinkled  surface.  At  a  guess,  the 
crater  at  Eldborg  may  be  about  400  yards  wide,  and  200  feet 
deep.  No  measurements  were  taken,  but  sketches  were  made. 
Most  of  the  valleys  which  drain  into  Faxefjord  have  small 
cones  of  eruption  and  streams  of  lava,  and  in  many  cases  the 
cone  stands  in  the  middle  of  a  far  larger  broken-down  crater, 
of  a  different  colour  and  make.  Each  of  these  would  be  a 
study,  but  mental  pictures  alone  were  brought  home  from  this 
region.  To  the  right  is  a  low  marshy  plain,  reaching  to  the 
sea ;  to  the  left,  tall  cliffs  of  bedded  igneous  rock,  with  faults 
and  fissures,  and  all  the  marks  of  weathering  old  and  new. 
As  the  day  wears  on,  glen  after  glen  opens  in  this  great  sea- 
wall ;  and  far  away  in  the  distance  a  bare  red  mound  glows 
like  a  heather  hill  in  autumn.  On  either  side  of  it  are  yellow 
hills,  fragments  of  the  old  crater  ;  and  from  these,  down  the 
glen,  comes  a  stream,  black  and  gray  and  green,  like  a  peat- 
moss in  the  Highlands.  A  turn  brings  in  a  bright  silvery 
stream  of  water,  the  river  which  the  lava-stream  has  driven 
to  one  side.  All  that  will  grow  in  Iceland — birch,  fern,  moss, 
and  grass — grows  best  about  these  lava-streams.  Either  the 
black  colour  gathers  more  heat  from  the  sun,  or  the  debris  of 
lava  makes  good  soil,  or  there  is  a  store  of  earth-heat  in  the 
lava  which  warms  the  plants  like  a  flue  in  a  hothouse.  The 
only  specimen  of  mountain  ash  found  in  the  island  was  found 
near  Eldborg,  growing  on  modern  lava.  But  all  these  are  tiny 
springs  to  some  of  the  old  giants  of  their  race. 


432  SPKINGS,  CHAMBERS — 

From  the  Geysers  to  Brunar  is  a  ride  of  about  forty  miles. 
The  way  leads  up  hills,  to  the  left,  in  the  cut,  p.  409.  It  passes 
over  a  small  lava-stream,  far  larger  than  the  largest  about  Vesu- 
vius, and  then  a  goat's  track  leads  out  of  a  glen  up  a  steep  slope 
through  a  notch  in  another  range.  The  dry  course  of  a  burn, 
or  a  natural  rift  in  this  hill,  gives  a  section  of  the  country.  The 
hill  is  made  of  layers  of  ashes,  plastered  over  with  lava. 
The  rock  is  cracked,  and  full  of  holes ;  and  it  rings  hollow 
under  foot.  To  ride  over  it  is  like  riding  over  vaults,  and 
great  hollows  are  open  where  the  sand  has  been  washed  away. 
At  the  top  of  this  strange  pass  the  edge  of  a  lava-flood  is 
reached,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  way  to  Brunar  the  track 
crosses  the  stream.  One  branch  of  it  flowed  to  Thingvalla, 
and  it  seems  as  if  part  of  it  reached  at  least  as  far  as 
Keykjanes,  about  seventy  miles  away.  The  bottom  of  the  sea 
is  made  of  lava,  according  to  the  report  of  fishermen,  so  there  is 
no  certain  limit  to  the  flow.  At  p.  90,  vol.  i.,  is  a  view  from 
Thingvalla.  In  the  centre  is  SkjaldbreiS,  and  the  way  from 
the  Geysers  to  Brunar  crosses  the  shoulder  of  that  dome  from 
right  to  left.  As  it  seems  the  lava  radiated  from  SkjaldbreiS ; 
and  that  mountain  is  a  frozen  spring,  the  top  of  the  pillar 
which  froze  in  the  tube  from  which  all  this  vast  flood  of 
molten  stone  rose  and  flowed.  But  if  so,  there  must  be  a 
chamber  in  proportion  left  somewhere  under  ground.  There 
is  no  cinder-heap  about  this  source  ;  it  overflowed  and  froze 
without  spouting,  for  lava-surfaces  are  well  preserved  in  all 
directions.  This  hill  is  from  4000  to  5000  feet  high,  but  no 
measurements  given  in  the  map. 

This  was  a  large  lava-spring  in  its  day,  but  the  older 
igneous  rocks  which  make  the  large  mountain  tracts  and  the 
whole  island  came  out  of  some  larger  well  and  some  bigger 
cistern.  It  may  be  that  the  broken  walls  of  rock  which  hem 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  433 

in  Faxefjord,  and  dip  away  from  it  with  the  radiating  glens 
which  drain  into  the  fjord,  are  remnants  of  a  crater  60  miles 
wide.  The  highest  mountains  in  the  world  are  volcanic, 
and  their  shapes  are  but  large  copies  of  mounds  at  Myvatn. 
A  force  now  active  raises  molten  stone  28,000  feet  above  the 
sea-level,  or  28  feet,  or  the  same  number  of  inches,  according  to 
the  amount  of  force  applied  ;  but,  in  all  these  cases,  the  force 
is  the  earth's  radiation,  resisted  and  controlled  by  gravitation. 

Far  out  at  sea,  the  Westman  Islands  are  cones  of  erup- 
tion like  those  which  abound  all  round  the  coast.  Some  are 
bare  ;  grass  grows  on  others  ;  and  some  are  broken  all  round 
by  the  sea.  The  cliffs  are  high,  and  give  beautiful  sections  of 
the  structure.  There  is  no  room  for  speculation  ;  the  facts  are 
there  patent  and  manifest,  drawn  in  coloured  lines  like  a  geo- 
logical section.  The  mounds  consist  of  layers  of  ashes,  tuff, 
and  overflows  of  lava,  which  rose  from  many  vents.  They 
seem  bent  in  every  possible  direction,  but  really  they  slope 
away  from  old  craters  which  were  buried  by  later  eruptions, 
so  they  form  a  complicated  pattern  of  waving  lines.  Sealed 
tubes,  pillars  of  lava  now  frozen  where  lava-springs  rose, 
are  seen  in  the  cliffs,  with  faults,  and  dykes  in  the  faults. 
These  are  harder  than  the  rest  of  the  mound,  and  they  are 
not  bedded.  Millions  of  birds  rest  in  shelves  weathered  out 
of  the  stratified  series.  No  bird  can  perch  on  the  side  of  the 
hard  compact  lava,  which  froze  in  holes  and  chinks.  One  of 
these  islands,  Erlandsey,  is  a  study  in  itself.  No  drawing  can 
give  any  true  notion  of  its  complicated  structure  as  shown  in 
the  cliff ;  but  the  form  of  the  truncated  cone  which  rises  in 
the  middle  is  but  a  repetition  of  mounds  at  Myvatn.  Like 
forms  have  been  made  repeatedly  by  boiling  sealing-wax, 
water,  and  plaster ;  and  sections  made  in  these  models  are 
miniature  copies  of  the  structure  of  Erlandsey.  To  describe 

VOL.  n.  2  F 


434  SPRINGS,  CHAMBERS— 

each  model  of  a  whole  series  made,  in  order  to  copy  each  of 
the  forms  described  in  this  chapter,  would  be  waste  of  time 
and  space.  Let  one  sample  suffice,  and  let  those  who  take 
an  interest  in  the  subject  cook  volcanoes  for  themselves. 

After  working  at  models  for  many  years  ;  after  these  last 
chapters,  written  some  years  ago,  had  been  rewritten  and  printed ; 
the  following  arrangement  was  made,  with  the  intention  of  imi- 
tating the  forms  and  movements  of  hot  springs  and  volcanoes  : 

An  iron  pan,  17  by  13  inches  wide,  and  2  deep,  was  placed 
2£  inches  above  a  gas-burner,  with  4  rings,  of  a  diameter 
of  9  inches.  A  layer  of  fine  sand,  about  half  an  inch  deep, 
was  spread  over  the  centre  of  the  pan  above  the  burner,  and 
a  ring  of  dry  plaster-of-Paris  was  made  about  the  sand.  A 
pound  of  coarse  sealing-wax  was  laid  on  the  sand.  The  gas 
was  lit,  and  the  sealing-wax  was  slowly  melted  upon  the  sand. 
It  boiled,  and  made  a  pool  of  melted  wax  upon  a  foundation 
pervious  to  water.  In  this  it  resembled  the  natural  arrange- 
ment of  a  sheet  of  lava  upon  a  bed  of  dust,  which  recurs  so 
often  in  volcanic  countries,  and  in  particular  at  the  place 
above  described  (p.  432).  When  all  the  wax  was  melted  it 
was  covered  with  a  layer  of  dry  plaster,  through  which  the 
sealing-wax  rose.  It  raised  domes,  and  burst  them,  as  lava- 
domes  are  burst  in  Iceland.  The  crown  of  the  arch  was 
starred,  and  then  from  the  middle  of  the  star  a  bubble  of  wax 
rose,  which  burst  and  overflowed,  covering  the  plaster. 

This  resembles  a  possible  natural  arrangement.  A  bed  of 
limestone  may  be  covered  by  hot  igneous  rocks  and  burned. 
If  water  then  gets  to  quicklime  it  will  set.  The  craters  thus 
formed  were  "  craters  of  elevation."  Copies  of  like  forms 
constantly  recur  in  slags  and  lavas ;  and  according  to  Von 
Buch  and  Piazzi  Smyth,  Monte  Somma  and  the  outer  ring 
of  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  were  so  raised  from  under  the  sea. 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  435 

To  get  more  power,  water  was  now  poured  in  round  the 
edge  of  the  pan,  and  more  plaster  was  dusted  in,  to  keep  the 
wax  in  the  middle.  When  this  charge  had  set,  there  remained 
a  plain  of  wet  plaster,  pervious  to  water,  surrounding  a  lot  of 
springs  of  boiling  wax,  which  covered  a  layer  of  sand.  The 
plaster  was  at  rest,  but  the  fusible  wax  heaved  and  swelled, 
and  burst  and  bubbled,  and  sank  down  again,  like  any 
other  boiling  material  from  metal  to  water.  By  adding 
cold  water  till  the  level  of  the  wax  was  reached,  these 
wax-springs  were  made  to  grow  and  become  tubes,  as 
in  the  experiment  (p.  406).  While  water  on  the  surface 
was  at  60°,  water  below  boiled  furiously,  and  steam  burst 
through  the  wax,  throwing  up  sand  through  miniature 
tubes,  which  communicated  with  steam  chambers.  In 
order  to  concentrate  the  power,  dry  plaster  was  poured  over 
all  vents  but  one,  and  there  steam  blew  off,  driving  out  wax, 
which  froze  in  the  water  when  it  flowed  down.  The  vessel 
was  now  filled  to  the  brim.  The  surface  water  was  at  100°, 
but  steam  escaped  through  several  pipes  in  soft  wax,  which 
boiled  up  and  rose  more  than  an  inch  above  the  water.  A 
thermometer  placed  in  the  steam  rose  to  212°,  but  probably 
the  temperature  was  higher.  At  this  stage,  sand,  wax,  plaster, 
and  water,  were  thrown  to  a  considerable  distance  by  steam, 
which  hissed  and  sputtered  through  this  miniature  crater. 
In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  crater  the  white  plaster  cracked, 
and  dykes  of  red  wax  rose,  while  fumes  from  the  wax  rose 
through  the  porous  plaster,  and  discoloured  it.  These  fumes 
spread  in  the  air,  and  travelled  far ;  for  the  smell  of  wax  per- 
vaded the  house.  In  all  volcanic  countries  fumeroles  abound. 
In  particular,  near  the  Geysers,  fumes  rise  and  are  condensed 
amongst  the  ashes.  By  adding  cold  water  the  temperature 
was  kept  about  60°  to  100°.  Plaster  does  not  melt  at  212°, 


43G  SPRINGS,   CHAMBERS— 

so  when  it  had  set  a  hard  shell  was  formed  about  a  fusible 
mass.  Sand  neither  melts  nor  sets  ;  without  digging  into 
the  model  it  is  plain  that  a  chamber  was  thus  formed  equal 
to  the  amount  of  wax  and  sand  which  was  driven  to  the 
surface.  Where  the  roof  was  weak  and  fusible  it  sank  in, 
and  cones  of  plaster  and  mounds  of  wax  sank  into  the  chief 
crater  and  disappeared.  So  craters  of  eruption  have  disap- 
peared after  rising  above  the  sea.  If  there  had  been  enough 
of  sand  a  sand  cone  of  eruption  would  have  formed  about 
the  wax  tubes.  To  make  a  cup  and  cone,  dry  plaster  was 
sprinkled  about  the  crater.  Steam  and  boiling  water  drove 
it  away  from  the  centre,  and  the  basin  and  mound  of  the 
Great  Geyser  were  copied  in  plaster.  When  the  first  layer 
had  set,  more  plaster  was  sprinkled  over  the  mound,  and  so 
it  grew.  But  when  it  had  grown  to  a  certain  height  the 
boiler  burst,  and  a  new  crater  opened  in  a  starred  dome  veined 
with  dykes.  Water,  wax,  sand,  and  steam,  burst  out  and 
broke  up  the  crust,  throwing  balls  of  soft  wax  to  a  distance. 
The  boiler  could  now  be  filled  by  pouring  water  into  one 
of  the  craters,  and  so  a  good  head  of  steam-power  was  kept 
going.  By  shaking  dry  plaster  over  both,  two  truncated 
cones,  with  cups  and  pipes,  grew.  Boiling  water  rising 
through  wax  tubes  moved  on  a  definite  plan,  and  sorted  the 
loose  plaster,  which  set  and  took  a  cast  of  the  currents. 
When  these  two  mounds  had  grown  so  high  that  the  pres- 
sure of  columns  of  water  in  them  equalled  the  strength  of  the 
boiler,  it  burst  once  more,  and  a  third  crater  opened  at  a 
low  level  amongst  the  plaster.  The  operation  was  so  far 
completed  in  about  two  hours,  at  a  cost  of  about  80  feet 
of  gas,  and  the  materials.  When  cooled,  water  stood  at  the 
same  level  in  all  the  pipes,  and  the  lowest  of  the  series  flowed 
as  a  cold  spring,  if  water  was  poured  into  any  of  the  rest. 


TUBES,  CRATERS,  AND  CONES.  437 

They  all  communicated  with  each  other,  and  met  iii  a  com- 
mon source.  But  when  the  model  was  heated  again,  water 
stood  at  various  levels,  and  rose  in  the  large  tubes  far  above 
the  edge  of  the  pan.  Moreover,  one  spring  was  always  hotter 
than  the  rest;  it  boiled  first,  and  spouted  highest  of  the 
series.  A  model  once  made  works  for  a  long  time,  but  this 
one  was  doomed  to  destruction  from  the  first :  the  toy  was 
broken  by  overturning  the  pan,  and  the  works  were  dissected. 
The  layer  of  sand  had  disappeared  ;  part  of  the  wax  had  taken 
the  shape  of  lava  clinkers ;  part  of  it  was  plastered  on  the 
roof  and  sides  of  a  steam  chamber  in  the  plaster,  and  formed 
the  lining  of  long  steam-pipes,  which  wound  about  through 
the  mass  ;  part  of  it  was  in  the  open  craters,  in  choked  tubes, 
and  in  hollow  cones,  which  rose  through  the  plaster,  but  did 
not  pierce  the  surface.  These  were  the  vents  which  were 
stopped  to  concentrate  the  power  at  one  spot.  The  roof  of 
the  chamber  was  so  shaped  that  most  of  the  steam  must  have 
gone  towards  the  pipe  in  which  the  water  was  hottest.  It 
was  heated  and  forced  up  by  the  steam,  and  the  steam  took 
the  easiest  way  to  escape  from  the  gas  fire  which  worked 
this  engine.  So  far  this  model  illustrates  a  theory,  formed 
upon  a  careful  study  of  natural  forms.  On  the  outside  of  it 
were  upheaved  strata,  dome,  overflow,  and  fountain ;  cup, 
cone,  and  pipe ;  and  these  were  miniatures  of  movements 
and  forms  at  the  Geysers,  at  Myvatn,  and  elsewhere.  Inside 
were  tubes  and  chambers,  like  those  which  abound  in  the 
crusts  of  volcanic  bombs  (p.  379).  The  conclusion  arrived 
at,  so  far,  is  that  the  igneous  crust  of  the  earth,  and  the 
mechanism  of  hot  springs  of  water  and  lava,  are  like  these 
miniatures,  and  like  them  were  shaped  by  radiation  and  gravi- 
tation, directed  by  laws  which  govern  the  universe. 


CHAPTEE   LVII. 

RAYS. 

A  mental  quality,  which  phrenologists  term  causality,  drives 
men  to  seek  causes.  In  1851  and  1862  this  turn  of  mind 
drove  many  visitors  into  the  department  of  machinery  in 
motion  ;  they  were  attracted  by  sights  and  sounds  and  smells 
which  repelled  others.  It  may  or  may  not  be  true  that  certain 
bumps  on  their  heads  were  large  ;  they  certainly  had  like 
tastes,  and  they  formed  a  class.  Amongst  them  were  members 
of  all  classes  in  society,  drawn  together  by  a  common  wish  to 
learn  how  things  are  made,  and  to  see  work  done.  One  who 
haunted  the  world's  fair  got  to  know  where  to  find  faces,  with 
certain  trains  of  thought  mirrored  upon  them.  Simple 
wonder,  with  round  eyes,  staring  agape,  was  in  faces  clustered 
about  the  big  diamonds  ;  amongst  the  engines,  even  wonder 
looked  somewhat  wise,  or  seemed  to  try. 

The  rattling,  grinding,  clashing,  grating,  thumping  discord 
of  many  engines  spread  from  the  place.  Following  sound,  a 
door  was  reached,  and  there  a  beam  of  electric  light  struck  full 
into  the  eyes  like  a  stinging  dart.  To  look  was  more  painful 
than  pleasant.  Most  men  blinked  and  rubbed  their  dazzled 
eyes,  looked  puzzled,  and  stepped  out  of  the  line  of  fire  as 
soon  as  they  could.  Some  who  looked  too  long  injured  their 
sight.  All  around  was  a  noisy  maze  of  wheels  and  axles, 
strings  and  bands,  rods  and  pistons,  whirling  and  turning, 


WORK,  ENGINES,   FORCE,  IDEAS.  439 

rising  and  falling,  advancing  and  retiring,  moving  and  hard 
at  work.  No  visitor  ever  hoped  to  comprehend  all  the  engines 
which  moved  and  worked  in  that  one  department ;  but  every 
one  who  chose  to  think  could  find  whole  trains  of  causes 
there.  Those  who  went  far  enough  found  out  that  the  com- 
missioners supplied  steam-power  to  the  exhibitors  gratis. 

Without  striving  to  comprehend  the  maze,  it  was  easy  to 
look  through  it,  and  see,  beyond  it  all,  a  furnace-fire,  a  light, 
and  a  man's  thought — three  distant  links  in  a  vast  chain  of 
causes,  but  links  within  reach.  Leaving  the  first  idea  of 
the  exhibition,  and  the  spark  which  kindled  the  fire,  a  more 
immediate  cause  of  all  the  movements  was  in  a  boiler-furnace, 
and  one  result  of  this  Fire  was  Frost. 

One  engine  was  making  ice  all  day  long.  An  air-pump 
exhausted  a  vessel  so  as  to  lift  pressure  off  ether ;  the  ether 
boiled  and  expanded,  and  became  vapour,  which  the  air-pump 
removed,  to  be  condensed  elsewhere.  The  vessel  which  held 
ether  thus  boiling  at  a  reduced  pressure  was  under  salt  water, 
in  which  tins -filled  with  fresh  water  were  plunged.  In  these 
water  froze.  It  froze  first  next  the  tin,  and  the  solid  crusts 
grew  towards  each  other,  forcing  air  before  them,  so  as  to 
shape  chambers  and  tubes  in  a  transparent  shell  of  ice.  The 
last  drop  of  fluid  was  in  the  middle  of  each  '  shape,'  and  the 
shape  of  each  system  of  air-bubbles  showed  the  directions  in 
which  force  had  acted.  The  furnace-fire  became  force,  and 
force  was  set  to  draw  heat  out  of  water  in  the  vapour  of 
ether  ;  and  so  this  engine  froze  water  because  water  was 
boiled.  One  day  a  rough-fisted  man  with  big  brows  and 
bright  eyes  watched  the  proceedings  in  silence  for  some  time, 
and  then  remarked  promiscuously  to  all  who  cared  to  hear, 
"  I've  seen  that  mony  a  time  in  the  pits."  "  That"  might  be 
seen  in  a  coal-pit  near  Glasgow  in  1863.  Air  was  driven 


440          FIRE,  FORCE,  FROST,  AIR,   WATER,   WAVES,   HEAT. 

down  to  the  "face"  by  a  steam-engine.  It  was  compressed  in 
a  pump,  and  in  long  pipes  ;  and  heat  was  squeezed  out  of  it,  for 
the  pump  and  the  pipes  were  warm.  When  the  compressed 
air  escaped  below,  it  expanded  and  took  up  heat  so  fast  that 
vapour  froze  and  became  hoar-frost  in  the  coal-pit.  So  fire 
turned  into  force  causes  frost  in  some  cases. 

Leaving  all  the  spinning,  weaving,  grinding,  rolling, 
packing,  folding,  hammering,  squeezing,  carving,  sawing, 
modelling  contrivances,  which  shared  in  the  force  of  one  fire, 
certain  engines  illustrate  parts  of  this  book ;  for  fire  and  weight, 
expansion  and  contraction,  were  set  to  move  air  and  water, 
and  other  substances,  with  engines. 

Amongst  the  engines  were  many  for  blowing  air  into 
furnaces.  These  howled  like  a  winter  storm  in  a  forest,  or 
roared  as  they  only  can  roar.  A  hand  with  relaxed  muscles 
fluttered  like  a  flag  in  the  nozzle  of  the  bellows,  and  felt 
that  air  is  a  fluid  of  sufficient  density  and  weight  to  do  the 
work  of  a  hurricane,  balance  a  column  of  mercury,  and  work 
an  engine.  Part  of  the  force  caused  waves  in  the  air,  which 
produced  discordant  sounds ;  part  of  it  made  harmony,  for  all 
the  great  organs  were  blown  by  engines.  The  force  of  fire 
was  so  directed  as  to  move  air  in  many  ways ;  part  of  the 
force  produced  sound  waves  in  air,  part  of  it  moved  currents 
of  air. 

Another  set  of  engines  lifted  water.  In  the  middle  of 
the  department,  a  broad  cascade  fell  over  a  tall  screen,  with 
all  the  dash,  and  spray,  and  froth  of  a  burn  falling  over  a 
rock.  But  this  fall  had  no  burn  behind  it.  A  centrifugal 
pump  was  whirling  in  a  basin  ;  it  lifted  water  through  a 
fiat  tube,  and  water  fell  over  the  edge  back  into  the  pool. 
There,  from  constant  friction,  the  circulating  water  grew 
warm  and  steamed.  Fire,  turned  into  force,  caused  waves 


FIRE,   LIGHT,   RAYS,  MOTION,  FORM.  441 

and  circulating  currents  to  move,  and  part  of  the  force  became 
sensible  heat  again. 

Part  of  it  became  visible  light  in  the  electro-magnetic 
engine,  which  cast  sharp  arrows  of  light  and  rays  of  sensible 
heat  through  a  distant  doorway.  That  light  was  produced 
by  the  passage  of  a  powerful  electric  current  between  carbon 
points  (see  Introduction).  These  do  not  touch,  but  when 
they  approach  each  other,  they  become  intensely  hot,  and 
very  luminous.  Bright  crackling  sparks  then  fly  off  at  some 
angle  to  the  course  of  the  current,  and  these  sparks  describe 
paths  which  depend  on  the  laws  which  govern  the  flight  of 
all  projectiles.  Many  were  gathered  when  cool.  Under  a 
microscope,  they  appear  as  minute  black  globules  with  a 
lustrous  glassy  surface,  with  cups  and  cones  and  craters,  like 
other  sparks.  Some  of  these  adhere  to  carbons  which  have 
cooled,  and  they  too  are  spherical.*  After  many  complicated 
changes,  force  caused,  or  became  radiant  light,  heat,  and  mo- 
tion. Force  and  light  radiated  from  luminous  spheres,  and 
from  sparks  thrown  off  from  a  luminous  current. 

Another  variety  of  the  same  light  was  produced  by  passing 
the  current  along  a  stream  of  falling  mercury,  "f"  Thin  as  a  wire, 
it  flowed  continuously  till  the  electric  current  took  the  same 
path,  and  then  the  stream  burst  and  shone.  Globules  and 
jets  of  vapour  dashed  outwards,  driven  by  radiation.  This 
light  has  a  strange  ghastly  colour,  and  the  spectrum  is  peculiar ; 
the  breath  of  it  is  poison,  so  it  has  to  be  shown  through  a 
glass  ;  the  fumes  condense  on  the  glass,  and  obscure  the 
light,  as  earth-light  is  hidden  by  the  earth's  crust.  By  these 
electric  lights  all  the  chemical  and  other  results  of  photo- 
graphy are  produced.  One  furnace-fire  was  a  source  of  rays  : 
rays  took  many  shapes  :  light,  heat,  cold,  waves,  sound,  elec- 

*  May  27,  1862.     Holmes'  light.  t  Way's  light. 


442  WILL. 

tricity  ;  galvanic,  magnetic,  and  chemical  action ;  actinism, 
fusion,  sublimation,  motion,  condensation,  freezing,  repulsion, 
attraction,  work,  and  recording  forms,  were  all  found  at  this 
one  focus — this  one  luminous  point  in  a  maze  of  engines — 
this  source  of  rays. 

The  forms  resulted  from  the  turning  of  a  wheel ;  from 
force,  from  a  spark,  and  from  human  will ;  for  the  action 
stopped  when  the  steam  was  turned  off  at  the  end  of  each  day. 

From  these  engines,  and  their  work,  it  appears  that  radia- 
tion and  gravitation  are  mechanical  powers  which  men  can 
set  to  move  and  shape  gases,  fluids,  and  solids,  including  all 
matters  yet  found  in  the  earth  or  in  meteorites,  and  all  those 
which  spectrum  analysis  has  found  in  the  sun.  In  the  de- 
partment of  machinery  in  motion,  gravitation  and  light,  force 
and  human  will,  could  be  seen  through  an  incomprehensible 
maze  of  engines  : — without  knowing  all  that  sprang  from  one 
thought,  and  all  that  made  it  grow,  this  much  could  be  seen. 
The  source  of  motion,  the  origin  of  force,  is  out  of  reach  ;  but 
through  all  the  tangled  mazes  of  the  incomprehensible  engines 
which  move  in  space,  gravitation  and  light,  force  and  Divine 
will,  may  be  seen  even  with  dazzled  eyes. 

One  remote  cause  of  motion  seems  to  be  in  rays  of  light. 

A  certain  clever  maker  of  filters  used  to  attract  custom  by 
filling  his  windows,  near  Temple-Bar  and  in  Eegent  Street, 
with  all  manner  of  quaint  waterworks.  One  contrivance  was 
a  fountain,  on  which  a  striped  ball  hung  suspended  under  a 
glass  shade.  It  hung  on  one  side  of  the  water-pillar,  it  turned 
horizontally  round  about  it,  and  while  it  turned  slowly  with 
the  sun,  or  "  widershins,"  as  the  case  might  be,  it  also  whirled 
rapidly  about  an  axis  of  its  own,  which  changed  place  con- 
tinually, but  apparently  on  a  definite  system.  Perhaps  the 
poles  changed  also.  The  ball  had  three  distinct  movements 


WEIGHTS,   WHIRLING,   AND  RAYS.  443 

at  least : — rotation  about  its  axis,  revolution  of  axis  about  the 
axis  of  the  fountain,  and  revolution  of  poles  about  some  un- 
known point  or  points.  Besides  these,  the  ball  and  the  foun- 
tain revolved  about  the  axis  of  the  earth  once  in  twenty-four 
hours ;  and  the  earth  and  this  little  satellite  have  been  round 
the  sun  many  times  since  the  satellite  was  first  observed  near 
Temple-Bar,  more  than  ten  years  ago.  In  these  regions 
the  ground  is  shaken  by  heavy  traffic ;  the  engine  was  dis- 
turbed, and  the  ball  fell  now  and  then.  "When  it  did  the 
fountain  rose  higher,  struck  and  spread  upon  the  dome  of 
the  shade,  flowed  down  the  walls  of  it  into  a  marble  cup, 
and  into  a  pit,  where  it  disappeared.  Like  the  water,  the 
ball  fell  into  this  miniature  crater  and  rolled  to  the  bottom  of 
it  ;  but  there  it  fell  against  the  fountain,  which  rose  through 
a  tiny  brass  pipe  in  the  midst  of  the  pit.  Struck  on  one 
side,  the  rolling  ball  rolled  the  other  way  ;  it  turned  like  a 
whipped  top,  and  it  soon  rose  again  whirling,  because  one  side 
of  it  was  lifted  faster  than  the  other  side  fell.  It  whirled  as 
the  water  circulated  from  the  fountain  in  the  middle  towards 
the  wet  circumference  where  streams  flowed  down ;  and  it 
rose  slowly  to  a  place  where  attraction  and  repulsion  were 
nearly  equal,  and  there  it  hung  balancing.  It  rose  or  fell 
an  inch  or  two  when  the  engine  was  disturbed,  or  when  it 
was  shaken  too  much  the  ball  fell  into  the  cup  ;  but,  gene- 
rally speaking,  the  ball  has  kept  its  place  for  many  years. 
To  watch  it  was  pleasant  pastime  for  a  law  student  who  studied 
sparks,  but  never  could  see  the  beauty  of  "  scintilla  juris." 

Apparently  that  engine  was  worked  by  a  single  force, 
divided  and  diverted  so  as  to  make  it  act  like  two  opposing 
forces.  It  was  a  "gravitation  engine."  The  fountain  rose 
because  water  in  falling  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  level  pushed 
water  in  a  bent  pipe  out  of  the  way,  and  drove  it  up.  So 


444  RAYS,   ENGINES,  AND  WEIGHTS. 

the  fountain  was  repelled  by  the  earth's  attraction  turned 
Lack  by  the  engineer  who  had  learned  to  manage  this  force. 
But  some  other  force  had  lifted  the  weight ;  so  this  engine 
worked  by  two  forces,  and  the  sun's  rays  helped  the  earth's 
rays  to  lift  the  ball  when  it  fell.  The  hand  which  winds  it 
up  moves  a  clock,  so  light  made  this  fountain  play. 

The  ball  whirled  for  the  same  reasons,  but  the  man  who 
made  it  whirl  could  not  comprehend  its  movements,  and  no 
man  does. 

One  of  the  best  mathematicians  of  the  day  is  wont  to 
encourage  and  amaze  "  young  men  from  the  country"  by 
showing  them,  at  the  first  of  a  series  of  lectures  on  physics, 
a  series  of  mechanical  tricks  which  are  explained  by  known 
laws  of  force  expressed  in  numbers,  or  in  symbols  which 
mean  numbers.  His  climax  is  to  spin  an  egg-shell — a  hollow 
oval  with  a  big  end  and  a  little  one — upon  a  fountain,  with  this 
comment: — "All  the  mathematicians  that  ever  were  cannot 
explain  that."  Nevertheless  the  youngest  members  of  the 
class  delight  to  repeat  the  experiment,  chiefly  because  of  the 
splash.  They  can  reproduce  the  movements  without  fail,  and 
they  can  perceive  without  much  effort  that  the  force  which 
works  this  engine  is  the  converging  force  which  makes  a  stone 
fall,  and  stretches  a  plumb-line  at  every  point  on  the  earth's 
surface  ;  but  behind  that  force  is  the  other  which  raised  the 
weight — and  it  is  light. 

If  so  many  different  movements  result  from  movement 
towards  one  point,  and  from  the  action  of  one  force,  two 
opposite  forces  may  do  complicated  work.  If  experiment 
precedes  the  full  explanation  of  it,  the  most  ignorant  may 
try  what  forces  will  do  with  matter ;  for  the  wisest  can  do  no 
more  when  he  gets  to  unknown  ground. 

Learned  geographers,  geologists,  and  famous  navigators, 


FLUIDS  IN  WHIRLING  BASINS.  445 

lately  met  to  settle  the  best  route  towards  the  North  Pole.  They 
differed  as  to  the  route,  but  all  agreed  that  the  pole  might  be 
reached.  Their  question  turned  on  the  movements  of  ice 
floating  in  a  revolving  circumpolar  sea.  The  best  route  for  a 
ship  is  where  the  sea  is  most  open,  the  best  for  a  sledge  where 
ice  is  most  compact ;  and  that  question  turns  on  the  movements 
of  floating  ice,  on  the  law  of  its  growth,  and  on  the  shape  of  the 
cup  which  holds  it.  The  worst  route  for  a  ship  would  be  to  start 
about  lat.  36°  10'  N.,  long.  39°  W.,  where  the  last  iceberg  was 
seen  (chap,  xliii.),  and  to  sail  over  the  banks  of  Newfoundland, 
where  ice  abounds,  up  either  coast  of  Greenland,  against  the 
Arctic  Current,  through  heavy  ice  there.  The  best  would  be  to 
sail  after  the  warm  Equatorial  Gulf  Stream,  past  England  and 
Scandinavia,  to  Spitzbergen,  and  seek  for  open  water  beyond. 
It  has  been  found  in  that  direction  (vol.  i.  p.  363).  If  the  ice 
which  drifts  past  to  the  west  of  Iceland  comes  out  of  the  arctic 
basin,  it  seems  reasonable  to  expect  to  find  an  equal  open  space 
somewhere  in  the  basin,  and  the  most  probable  place  for  such 
an  opening  is  near  the  centre  of  revolution,  which  is  the  North 
Pole.  This  was  an  important  subject ;  but  one  of  the  ablest 
of  the  able  speakers,  in  addressing  a  grave  assemblage,  com- 
pared the  Arctic  Ocean  to  a  whirling  mop.  A  great  authority, 
who  thus  compared  great  things  with  small,  encouraged  one 
who  compared  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  a  top  and  a  whirling  mop 
in  chap,  xxvii.,  to  venture  further  on  the  same  path.  The  most 
ignorant  may  try  experiments,  even  though  he  must  leave 
their  explanation  to  those  who  are  better  informed. 

A  trundling  mop  is  an  old  and  apt  illustration  of  pure  cen- 
trifugal force.  If  turned  slowly  it  makes  little  splash ;  if  rapidly 
whirled,  water  radiates  from  it,  spreading  in  rings  of  spray; 
each  drop  sets  off  at  a  tangent  to  some  circle  described  about 
the  axis  of  the  whirling  mass,  by  some  part  of  it  which  holds 


446  TRUNDLING  MOPS. 

on  to  the  rest  with  a  firmer  grip.  But  when  the  mop  spins 
as  a  carriage-wheel  turns,  vertically,  drops  do  not  follow 
straight  paths.  The  centre  which  attracts  is  not  in  this 
centre  of  rotation  and  centrifugal  force,  but  in  the  earth's 
centre  ;  so  each  drop  describes  a  different  curve  when  a  mop 
is  trundled  vertically.  The  man  who  can  calculate  the 
paths  of  these  projectiles  must  be  an  able  mathematician ; 
but  any  child  can  make  the  projectiles  draw  part  of  their 
own  curved  paths,  and  so  take  a  practical  lesson  in  the  laws 
of  force. 

At  page  96,  vol.  i.,  is  a  drawing  made  by  a  drop  of  ink 
on  a  block  of  wood.  The  engraver  cut  away  the  bare  sur- 
face and  left  the  rest.  From  the  shape  it  is  easy  to  see  how 
the  fluid  moved,  to  see  that  these  drops  struck  the  target  on 
which  they  splashed,  fairly,  at  right  angles  to  the  plane.  In 
fact,  they  fell  upon  a  block  kid  horizontally  to  catch  them, 
which  was  moved  aside  a  short  way  to  make  room  for 
each  new  drop.  If,  instead  of  thus  striking  a  plane  at  right 
angles,  a  drop  strikes  it  sideways,  it  takes  another  shape, 
which  gives  like  information  as  to  movements  and  directions 
of  force.  To  make  more  woodcuts  of  this  kind  would  be 
waste  of  trouble  and  cash,  for  anyone  may  drop  ink  from 
a  tube  and  slope  white  paper  at  various  angles  to  see  the 
effect. 

A  drop  is  spherical,  and  if  it  be  laid  on  paper  it  draws  its 
own  section,  and  dries  a  round  spot.  If  it  falls  it  takes  a  new 
shape ;  it  becomes  a  star  if  it  hits  fair ;  an  oval  like  a  leaf 
with  prickles  round  the  edge  if  it  hits  the  surface  obliquely. 
The  falling  drops  threw  off  little  drops,  and  some  of  these 
are  shown  in  the  cut. 

The  faster  it  moves,  and  the  more  it  hits  sideways,  the 
longer  is  the  oval.  The  drop  is  moving  both  along  the  sur- 


SPINNING   TOPS.  447 

face  and  towards  it ;  so,  when  it  moves  fast,  and  hits  a  sur- 
face at  a  very  small  inclination,  a  drop  becomes  a  very  long 
oval,  with  a  line  and  a  dot  in  front.  So  far  a  drop  recorded 
one  vertical  movement  and  one  reflection — a  movement  caused 
by  the  direct  force  which  makes  it  fall,  and  a  reflection  from 
the  paper.  A  fluid  may  then  be  made  to  draw  diagrams  of 
its  own  movements,  and  to  record  the  action  of  forces. 

In  the  case  of  a  mop,  turning  like  a  carriage-wheel, 
fluid  projectiles  are  moved  by  two  forces  at  least :  by  centrifu- 
gal force,  which  projects  them  at  a  tangent  to  a  circle,  described 
vertically  about  an  axis  of  rotation ;  and  by  the  earth's  gra- 
vitation, which  may  be  taken  to  act  perpendicularly  in  ver- 
tical parallel  lines.  The  curves  which  result  may  be  learned 
by  trundling  a  mop  near  to  a  wall ;  by  watching  mud 
drops  thrown  by  wheels  against  carriage  windows  ;  by 
studying  mud  upon  house  windows  or  walls  in  a  street 
through  which  carriages  pass.  Some  years  ago  a  French 
philosopher  invented  a  very  clever  toy  called  the  gyro- 
scope, from  which,  amongst  other  things,  a  taste  for  spinning 
tops  grew.  One  man  furnished  the  public  with  "patent 
metal  tops,"  copied  from  a  Japanese  pattern,  and  he  made  a 
small  fortune.  These  tops  were  set  to  draw  as  soon  as  they 
appeared.  To  get  mop  curves  a  hole  was  made  in  a  white- 
washed wall,  and  a  metal  top  was  spun  vertically,  so  that  it 
whirled  near  the  wall.  A  saucer  of  ink  was  placed  under  it, 
and  raised  till  it  covered  the  whirling  edge.  The  result  was 
a  diagram  more  than  six  feet  wide,  which  showed  at  a  glance 
how  movement  along  straight  lines — tangents  drawn  from  the 
circumference  of  a  revolving  wheel  at  right  angles  to  a  spoke 
— gradually  bent  into  movements  towards  the  earth's  centre. 
Thousands  of  drops  drew  as  many  diagrams  on  the  wall.  It 
would  cost  a  lifetime  to  calculate  curves  which  fluid  projec- 


448  EXPEDIENTS. 

tiles  draw  in  a  moment.  There  they  remain,  curves  drawn  in 
all  angles  which  two  straight  lines  will  make  in  one  plane — 
curves  which  vary  as  the  projecting  force  varied  in  direction 
and  intensity.  Two  forces  drew  these  diagrams,  but  they  did 
not  oppose  each  other  directly.  Something  more  was  wanted. 

Some  of  these  tops  will  spin  for  ten  minutes.  When  spun 
horizontally,  projectiles  are  not  so  much  disturbed  by  the 
earth's  attraction.  Lines  drawn  by  them  curve  downwards, 
like  the  ribs  of  an  umbrella  ;  but  they  are  not  bent  sidewise. 
A  top  with  a  disc  of  paper  on  it  was  spun  in  a  concave  lens 
to  keep  it  on  one  spot,  and  a  sheet  of  cardboard  was  placed 
horizontally,  so  that  the  edge  of  a  circular  hole  in  the  middle 
of  it  was  close  below  the  edge  of  the  disc.  Ink  dropped  on 
whirling  paper  was  thrown  off,  and  fell  on  the  cardboard 
obliquely.  The  result  was  a  diagram  in  which  thousands  of 
minute  drops  had  become  as  many  long  ovals,  with  long  lines 
in  front.  A  ruler  laid  on  any  one  of  these  touched  the  edge 
of  the  disc  of  paper,  when  it  was  pasted  over  the  hole  in 
which  it  had  revolved.  So  far  the  experiment  only  demon- 
strated the  well-known  effects  of  centrifugal  force  on  projectiles. 
This  diagram  was  drawn  by  two  forces  ;  but  by  forces  acting 
in  different  planes.  Something  more  was  still  wanted. 

The  first  point  to  be  illustrated,  if  possible,  was  the  action 
of  two  forces — one  pure  centrifugal  force,  the  other  a  force 
acting  from  the  centre  of  a  revolving  wheel,  as  a  volcano  at 
the  equator  acts  on  projectiles,  along  rays.  The  top,  with  a 
disc  of  paper,  was  spun  as  before,  and  a  drop  of  black  ink  was 
allowed  to  fall  on  it  near  the  centre.  It  described  branching 
spirals  from  E.toW.  as  it  moved  to  the  circumference,  and  it  flew 
off  at  tangents  from  W.  to  E.  when  it  got  to  the  edge  and  was 
scattered  there.  Drops  of  red  ink  were  then  squirted  at  the  edge 
of  the  disc  from  a  point  near  the  centre,  with  a  syringe.  In 


ROTATION  AND  RADIATION.  449 

this  case  the  red  ink  was  driven  by  two  forces — by  one  which 
drove  it  away  from  the  centre  along  a  spoke  ;  by  another 
which  tended  to  throw  it  at  right  angles  to  a  spoke  j  and  drops 
of  red  ink  showed  the  direction  in  which  they  were  moving 
when  they  fell  on  the  plane.  A  ruler  laid  on  a  red  drop  did 
not  always  make  a  tangent  to  the  disc,  as  it  did  when  laid  on 
a  black  drop.  Within  a  parallelogram  drawn  upon  a  tangent 
and  a  ray,  the  red  lines  converged  upon  the  end  of  the  ray 
along  which  the  red  ink  was  projected. 

The  aim  of  this  spinning  was  to  get  opposing  forces  to  act 
in  one  plane  ; — centrifugal  and  centripetal,  radiating  and  con- 
verging forces  : — and  gravitation,  still  acted  at  right  angles 
to  the  other  two.  Some  other  expedient  was  still  wanted. 

The  woodcut  is  a  fac-simile  of  a  disc  of  paper,  on  which 
black  and  red  ink  drew  curves,  as  described  above.  The 
shaded  border  is  red.  The  drops  are  fac-similes  of  drops 
which  were  projected  by  discs,  but  to  bring  them  within  the 
size  of  a  page  they  were  cut  out,  and  pasted  on  lines  which 
touch  points  on  the  disc,  at  which  drops  aimed  from  consi- 
derable distances. 

A  drop  of  black  ink  fell  at  A,  and  described  the  spiral 
figures  in  travelling  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference  of 
the  revolving  disc  of  paper.  One  portion  of  the  drop  travelled 
to  W,  making  a  turn  and  a  half,  and  it  was  projected  towards 

B.  There,  if  the  centre  of  attraction  had  also  been  the  centre 
of  revolution,  the  drop  would  have  been  attracted  towards  C. 
If,  instead  of  falling  on  the  paper  at  B,  it  had  returned  to 

C,  the  path  described  would  have  been  a  curve  drawn  within 
the  angle  W  B  C. 

A  drop  of  red  ink  was  projected  at  E  in  the  direction  of 
the  arrow  E  2,  and  part  of  it  travelled  to  E  3.     If  it  had 
VOL.  IT.  2  G 


Pio.  110.   HORIZONTAL  SECTION. 


BULLETS.  451 

returned  to  R  4,  the  curve  described  would  have  been  con- 
tained within  the  angle  R  2,  3,  4 

The  first  might  be  called  a  trundling  mop  curve  ;  for  it  is 
a  result  of  centrifugal  force  and  gravitation.  The  second  is  a 
result  of  three  forces,  and  one  was  on  a  ray. 

From  this  diagram  it  seems  to  follow  that  a  stone  pro- 
jected vertically  from  a  volcano  at  the  equator  does  not  move 
off  at  a  tangent  to  the  circle  described  about  the  earth's  axis 
by  the  top  of  the  mountain,  but  moves  off  on  a  line  which 
divides  the  right  angle  made  by  a  tangent  and  ray.  If  the 
radial  and  tangential  forces  produced  equal  velocities,  the  bine 
would  divide  the  right  angle  equally,  and  the  stone  would  set 
off  at  an  angle  of  45°  to  the  plane  of  the  horizon,  eastwards. 
But  at  every  point  in  its  flight,  a  stone  is  pulled  sideways 
by  the  earth's  attraction,  as  a  drop  of  mud  is  pulled  down 
when  thrown  up  by  a  carriage-wheel.  In  mop-curves  drawn 
on  a  wall  straight  lines  are  bent  by  gravitation.  The  straight 
line  is  bent  into  a  curve.  In  the  case  supposed  the  curve 
described  is  a  result  of  radiation,  centrifugal  force,  and 
gravitation — a  combination  of  force  acting  in  three  different 
directions  :  1,  from  centre  towards  circumference ;  2,  from  cir- 
cumference at  a  tangent  in  the  direction  of  revolution  W  R 
E  ;  and  3,  from  circumference  towards  the  common  centre  of 
attraction  and  repulsion.  In  drawing  this  second  diagram, 
two  of  these  forces  acted  in  the  horizontal  plane  ;  the  third  at 
right  angles  to  that  plane.  The  object  aimed  at  was  to  get 
forces  to  act,  so  as  to  illustrate  the  action  of  rays  opposed 
by  another  force.  A  volcanic  bomb  describes  a  curve  like  any 
other  projectile  cast  in  the  same  direction  with  equal  force  : 
the  path  of  every  projectile  is  matter  of  calculation  and 
of  speculation  till  the  experiment  is  tried  ;  but  without  cal- 
culation, it  seems  plain  that  a  bullet  aimed  at  the  zenith  point 


452  VOLCANIC  PROJECTILES. 

from  the  equator  ought  to  fall  to  the  west  of  the  gun  ;  from 
either  pole  into  the  gun ;  from  any  intermediate  latitude  to 
the  west,  and  at  some  place  further  from  the  nearest  pole 
than  the  starting-point — south  or  north  : — and  west. 

In  the  diagram,  p.  450,  a  drop  travelled  from  the  centre  to 
the  circumference  of  a  disc  of  paper  revolving  horizontally  in 
the  direction  W  E  E,  as  the  plane  of  the  equator  does.  Ink 
travelled  from  A  through  W  to  B,  and  would  have  moved 
towards  C  in  the  direction  +,  if  attracted  towards  the  centre. 
The  point  A  also  moved  in  the  same  direction  about  the  axis. 
But  in  travelling  on  the  revolving  disc  from  A  to  W,  the  ink 
described  a  backward  curve.  The  paper  and  every  point  upon 
it,  and  ink  adhering  to  it,  moved  W  E  E,  but  ink  rolling  along 
the  paper  as  a  bullet  flies  through  the  atmosphere  moved  E  E 
W.  It  reached  a  larger  circle  on  which  points  moved  faster, 
at  each  stage. 

A  drop  of  ink  falls  perpendicularly.  It  may  be  so  dropped 
as  to  move  towards  the  axis  of  a  disc  revolving  vertically  in 
the  direction  WEE.  In  moving  from  circumference  to  centre, 
it  moves  forward  with  the  paper,  but  it  describes  a  curve  in 
the  backward  direction  E  E  W,  because  the  paper  moves  faster 
in  the  opposite  direction  WEE.  As  the  first  curve  was  drawn 
in  the  direction  W  throughout,  the  ink  always  lagged  behind 
the  paper.  But  if  paper  moved  faster  than  ink,  the  point  A 
won  the  race  :  the  gun  beat  the  bullet ;  it  could  not  return 
to  A,  but  to  some  point  behind  it,  or  to  the  west. 

A  drop  of  ink  fell  perpendicularly  upon  the  point  A,  and 
a  drop  thrown  up  through  the  axis  would  return  into  it.  Its 
own  centrifugal  force  does  not  disturb  the  path  of  a  rifled  shot. 
Between  the  equator  and  poles  of  a  globe,  as  many  discs  revolve 
as  there  are  planes  at  right  angles  to  the  axis.  At  lat.  45°, 
the  plane  of  revolution  and  a  plumb-line  make  an  angle  of  45°. 


EEUPTIONS. 


453 


A  stone  aimed  at  the  zenith,  driven  in  the  direction  K  by  a 
ray-force,  is  subjected  throughout  its  course  to  the  centrifugal 
force,  which  acts  in  the  direction  T  E,  or  towards  the  equator. 


FIG.  111.  VERTICAL  SECTION. 

If  this  reasoning  be  right,  the  longest  slope  of  cones  of  erup- 
tion in  the  northern  hemisphere  ought  to  be  south  and  west 
of  the  chief  craters,  and  in  the  southern  hemisphere  to  the 
north  and  west.  Polar  ice,  after  passing  Spitzbergen,  goes  not 
to  Archangel,  southwards,  but  towards  St.  John's,  Newfound- 
land, at  something  like  a  tangent,  to  the  circle  of  lat.  80  .  It 
goes  south  and  also  westwards.  It  describes  a  backward 
curve. 

The  same  reasoning  applies  to  volcanic  bombs.  Ink,  in 
moving  from  the  centre  towards  the  circumference  of  paper, 
revolving  in  the  direction  WEE,  described  the  curve  A  W. 
Lava  shaped  itself  into  like  curves  in  the  specimens  at  p.  379. 
ISTos.  1  and  2  revolved  in  the  direction  W  E  E,  No.  3  in  the 


454  CONES  OF  ERUPTION. 

direction  E  E  W.  The  core  and  crust  make  backward  curves 
(in  the  impression),  like  the  curve  A  W  in  the  diagram,  p.  450. 
The  longest  axis  of  chambers,  and  many  systems  of  chambers 
in  concentric  layers,  have  the  same  curved  arrangement.  If 
the  earth  has  a  like  structure,  a  majority  of  craters  ought  to  be 
found  to  the  west  of  the  chief  cones  of  eruption  at  the 
equator ;  in  the  northern  hemisphere  to  the  south  and  west  ;  in 
the  southern  hemisphere  to  the  north  and  west.  Oval  craters 
ought  to  have  like  bearings  for  their  longest  axes  ;  and  most 
of  the  matter  thrown  out  ought  to  be  found  on  that  side. 

In  fact,  the  longest  slope  of  Etna  is  to  the  south  of  the 
highest  point,  and  most  of  the  matter  thrown  out  is  to  the 
south,  and  to  the  west  of  the  meridian  which  cuts  the  highest 
crater  (15°  E.) 

The  longest  slope  of  the  cone  of  Vesuvius  is  towards  the 
Bay  of  Naples,  about  S.  55°  W.  of  the  crater,  and  the  broken 
ring  of  Somma  is  open  to  the  south-west. 

The  long  axis  of  Hecla,  lat.  64°  K,  bears  about  S.  60°  W. 
The  broken  crater  is  open  in  that  direction,  and  the  last  stream 
of  lava  escaped  on  that  side,  and  flowed  that  way. 

At  Krabla  or  Krafla,  66°  N.,  the  longest  slope  is  to  the 
south  and  west.  Active  water-craters  and  the  latest  lava- 
streams  are  to  the  south-west  of  the  highest  point,  and  that 
is  a  remnant  of  a  large  crater  broken  down  on  the  south-west. 

The  longest  slope  of  Snsefell  has  similar  bearings,  S.  80 
W.,  near  lat.  65°  N.     (See  map,  vol.  i.  p.  85.) 

So  far  as  memory  and  rough  notes  and  sketches  serve, 
this  rule  holds  good  for  all  the  large  craters  noticed  in  Ice- 
land. Broken  craters  on  shore  are  open  to  the  evening  sun, 
like  the  Faxefjord.  The  eastern  edge  of  the  crater,  which 
is  the  muzzle  of  the  gun,  is  also  highest.  These  big  guns 
are  not  aimed  at  the  zenith,  but  at  some  point  to  the  south 


DIAGRAMS.  455 

and  west  of  it ;  and  charges  of  small  shot  fired  from  them 
have  fallen  chiefly  to  the  south  and  west  of  the  tubes  from 
which  they  were  thrown. 

So  far,  personal  observations  and  experiments  agree,  and 
make  a  foundation  on  which  to  build  a  theory.  Laws  of  force 
apply  to  matter  above  the  earth,  and  within  it ;  to  nebulae 
and  to  worlds,  to  atmospheres  and  oceans,  and  to  fluids  under 
crusts  ;  and  to  mops,  maps,  and  tops  when  they  spin. 

Bodies  propelled  by  rays  must  obey  the  same  laws  which 
govern  bullets  ;  and  volcanic  mountains  are  chiefly  built  of 
projectiles  shot  from  the  earth  through  tubes  by  rays  of  force. 

Since  these  pages  were  first  printed,  many  rude  experi- 
ments above-mentioned  have  been  repeated  with  good  machi- 
nery used  in  polishing  optical  instruments,  and  similar  fine 
work.* 

Some  eastern  artist  engraved  certain  curves  on  the  sun  in 
the  astronomical  symbol  copied  vol.  i.  p.  21.  A  board  was 
made  to  turn  W.  S.  E.  K,  in  the  same  direction  as  the  sun, 
the  earth,  and  the  solar  system,  that  is  against  the  hands  of  a 
watch  when  the  face  is  to  the  pole-star. 

1.  A  sheet  of  paper  was  nailed  on  the  board,  drops  of  ink 
were  placed  near  the  centre,  and  the  board  was  turned.     The 
ink  drew  curved  rays,  bent  as  they  are  in  the  symbol.     As  a 
potter's  wheel  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  human  inventions,  per- 
haps this  method  of  drawing  diagrams  is  old. 

2.  A  proof  of  the  map  p.  232,  vol.  i.,  was  placed  with  the 
pole  in  the  centre  of  revolution.     Drops  of  ink  were  placed 
within  five  degrees  of  the  pole,  and  the  engine  was  started. 
A  drop  placed  at  90°  E.  followed  the  arctic  current  on  the 
map,  touching  southern  capes  in  Spitsbergen  and  the  western 

*  I  am  indebted  to  Messrs.  C.  and  F.  Darker,  of  9  Paradise  Row,  Lambeth, 
for  permission  to  use  their  machinery.     April  13,  1865. 


456  DIAGRAMS. 

point  of  Iceland.  A  drop  placed  at  120°  E.  described  the 
curve  assigned  to  the  Baltic  Current.  It  touched  the  northern 
end  of  Novaya  Zemlya,  the  Waranger  Fjord,  crossed  Scandina- 
via, skirted  the  western  coast,  and  passed  Scotland  from  the 
Moray  Firth  to  Barra.  A  third  drop  placed  180°  E.  passed 
over  the  southern  end  of  Novaya  Zemlya,  and  would  have 
crossed  the  south  of  England  if  a  fold  in  the  paper  had  not 
spoiled  the  curve. 

3.  A  proof  of  the  map  at  the  end  of  vol.  i.  was  fixed  with 
a  drop  of  ink  on  the  pole,  and  spun.     It  took  great  speed  to 
start  this  drop,  but  when  it  did  move  it  drew  curves  which 
closely  resemble,  but  do  not  coincide  with,  curves  drawn  by 
hand  on  the  stone  from  which  the  map  was  printed. 

4.  To  test  the  effect  of  speed,  three  drops  in  succession 
were  placed  on  the  centre,  and  a  sheet  of  paper  whirled  thrice 
at  different  rates.     The  curves  were  not  the  same,  but  very 
like,  and  it  seemed  that  the  ink  had  started  from  different 
circles. 

5.  To  test  the  effect  of  distance  from  the  centre,  a  row  of 
drops  were  placed  on  a  line  on  a  sheet  of  section  paper.     All 
the  curves  differed.     A  second  row  was  placed  at  equal  dis- 
tances on  a  line  at  right  angles  to  the  first,  and  the  paper 
was  turned  the  opposite  way.     Reverse  curves  crossed  near 
the  bisection  of  two  of  the  four  right  angles.     The  figures 
produced  were  heart-shaped,  or  like  the  ace  of  spades.    Those 
which  started  from  the  furthest  points  were  least  bent. 

6.  A  speed  of  1200  revolutions  in  the  minute  gave  like 
results. 

7.  Opposite  curves  were  made  with  a  pencil  by  ruling  a  line 
against  a  ruler,  from  circumference  to  centre,  and  onwards 
from  centre  to  circumference  (see  chap,  xxvii.) 

As  regards  a  fixed  line,  the  path  of  the  ink  was  a  ray  bent 


DIAGRAMS.  457 

forward  by  friction  against  the  paper ;  as  regards  a  moving 
radius,  it  was  in  a  ray  bent  backwards  by  inert  resistance. 

As  ink  moved  on  whirling  maps,  so  a  bit  of  floating  ice 
revolves  with  the  earth  and  makes  a  curve  south-eastwards 
on  some  imaginary  fixed  line  amongst  the  stars  :  it  is  carried 
round  by  friction,  and  repelled  by  centrifugal  force.  As 
regards  the  meridian  on  the  earth's  crust,  the  ice  describes  a 
backward  curve  south-westwards,  as  ink  did  on  the  maps. 
Some  eastern  astronomer  described  like  curves  on  the  sun's 
disc  :  they  are  repeated  on  ancient  sculptured  stones  in  Scot- 
land ;  and  something  like  the  curves  drawn  by  Maury  (vol.  i. 
]>.  28)  have  been  found  in  photographs  of  the  sun  (end  of  vol.  ii.) 

Centrifugal  force  acts  along  a  ray,  from  the  centre  towards 
the  circumference  of  a  revolving  plane,  and  friction  bends  the 
ray  forwards. 

Sticky  gum  water  dropped  on  a  top  spreads  along  rays, 
and  the  path  described  by  each  separate  drop  is  but  little 
bent.  The  paper  holds  it  fast,  and  carries  it  round  till  it  gets 
to  the  edge.  There  it  flies  off  at  a  tangent,  at  right  angles  to 
its  path  on  the  paper.  Ink,  which  is  more  fluid  and  less  sticky, 
radiates,  but  the  rays  are  more  bent  forward  when  the  fluid 
is  sticky.  The  paper  slips  past  and  under  fluid ;  and  air, 
which  also  radiates  from  the  axis  at  slower  rates,  holds  ink 
back.  The  path  of  ink  on  the  paper  is  more  bent.  In 
both  cases  the  last  course  along  a  tangent  is  derived  from 
two  movements  :  one  along  a  ray,  the  other  about  an  axis. 
The  paper  which  holds  together  makes  most  turns,  though 
urged  by  the  same  force  which  also  urges  gurn  and  ink  and 
air  away  from  the  spindle  of  a  top. 

This  may  be  shown  in  many  ways.  A  shallow  round  card- 
board box  with  upright  sides  was  fixed  on  a  top  and  spun 
with  it.  Burning  sealing-wax  dropped  in  took  various  shapes 


458  MODELS. 

as  it  cooled  and  hardened.  Part  of  it  set  in  bent  rays,  which 
started  from  a  ring.  The  outer  crust  of  the  ring  was  irregu- 
lar. Projectiles  thrown  from  this  circular  mound  there  set  off 
at  tangents  to  the  ring,  hit  the  side  of  the  box,  and  made 
backward  curves  where  they  stopped.  The  front  of  each 
drop  was  carried  forward,  and  the  rest  stuck  on  spots  which 
followed  the  first  spot  struck.  The  target  was  crossing  the 
line  of  fire,  so  fluid  bullets  made  long  oval  marks  on  the  up- 
right wall  of  the  box.  Any  projectile  must  curve  back  if 
cast  forward  from  the  edge  of  a  revolving  disc  through  still 
air  moving  with  the  disc  ;  and  for  that  reason  volcanic  pro- 
jectiles ought  to  fall  most  on  the  western  side  of  the  crater. 

By  thus  watching  the  effect  of  rotation  on  hot  wax,  some 
notion  may  be  got  of  the  packing  of  the  earth's  viscid  and  fluid 
interior  within  a  freezing  crust.  The  round  crust  formed 
in  a  ring,  and  the  fluid  was  urged  towards  it  by  pure  centri- 
fugal force.  Gravitation  acted  at  right  angles  to  this  plane  ; 
the  effect  of  the  same  force  acting  towards  a  point  on  the  axis 
is  matter  of  calculation. 

Flaming  drops  of  wax  thrown  beyond  the  box  were  caught 
on  paper.  Some  which  had  cooled  were  spherical,  like  iron 
sparks  ;  others  which  had  not  cooled  so  much  flattened  where 
they  fell ;  and  the  long  axis  of  each  was  in  a  tangent  to  the 
rim  of  the  box  in  the  plane  of  the  horizon.  In  the  vertical 
plane  each  projectile  described  a  curve.  Other  drops  fell  on 
water  and  froze  flat.  Their  structure  was  chambered  like 
other  hot  sparks.  Each  had  a  core  within  a  crust. 

So  far  these  movements  and  forms  were  produced  by  a 
force  which  pulled  a  string  at  a  tangent  to  the  spindle  of  a 
top,  and  by  a  radiating  force  which  fused  and  boiled  wax  ; 
and  the  last  movement  was  a  tangent  to  the  outer  circle, 
which  revolved  about  the  axis. 


MODELS.  459 

The  next  step  was  to  try  the  effect  of  rotation,  so  as  to 
test  theories  as  to  the  interior  of  bodies  which  revolve  while 
changing  from  a  fluid  to  a  solid  condition.  The  top  and  seal- 
ing-wax did  well  enough  ;  but  better  machinery  did  better 
work. 

1.  A  circular  cardboard  box,  with  upright  sides,  was  spun 
with  a  mass  of  thick  wet  plaster-of-Paris  in  it.     The  forms 
produced  were  founded  on  bent  rays. 

2.  The  experiment  was  repeated   in  vessels   of  various 
shapes,  and  at  varying  speed.    Forms  produced  were  like  those 
which  result  from  whirling  water  in  a  glass  bottle,  but  in  this 
case  a  plaster  cast  of  the  forces  employed  was  taken.     While 
wet,  the  plaster  was  a  reflector,  so  accurate  as  to  suggest  the 
making  of  metal  reflectors  by  the  same  process  somewhat 
modified. 

3.  An  elliptical  cardboard  box,  with  upright  sides  and  a 
cover,  was  nailed  on  and  spun  half  filled  with  fluid  plaster. 
One  end  of  the  ellipse  was  three  inches  from  the  centre,  the  other 
six  inches.   The  long  diameter  was  nine  inches,  the  short  one  six. 
When  the  plaster  had  set  most  of  it  was  found  at  the  ends.   A 
circle  described  about  the  centre  of  revolution  touched  the 
base  of  a  curved  wall,  which  reached  the  lid  and  filled  the  most 
distant  end.    At  the  other  end  was  another  wall :  it  was  curved 
in  plan  and  in  vertical  section,  but  not  concentric  with  the 
other  wall.    About  the  centre  of  revolution  was  a  low  mound, 
from  which  waves  of  plaster  made  backward  curves.    Enough 
was  done  to  prove  that  a  hollow  shell  of  fluid  may  form  inside 
a  solid  shell,  like  the  water  sphere  p.  353,  and  the  sparks, 
bombs,  and  meteorites  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter.     I  will 
not  even  attempt  to  name  the  curves  which  were  thus  pro- 
duced by  whirling  plaster-of-Paris  while  it  was  setting,  but 
immediate  causes  were  plain  enough.     Centrifugal  and  cen- 


460  MODELS. 

tripetal  forces,  an  engine,  and  a  man's  hand  turning  a  crank, 
were  links  in  the  chain  ;  but  powers  which  move  planets 
were  in  that  small  train  of  whirling  wheels. 

The  aim  of  all  these  devices  was  to  see  light  through 
engines.  For  lack  of  mental  machinery  with  which  to  cal- 
culate the  effects  of  ray-force,  machinery  in  motion  was  set 
to  draw  diagrams  and  build  models.  But  some  other  expe- 
dient was  still  wanting  to  show  the  action  of  rays. 


CHAPTER    LVIII. 

FORCE — MOVEMENT — WORK — FORM. 

IN  the  last  chapter  various  rude  expedients,  used  for  learning 
the  effects  of  rays  and  rotation,  were  described.  In  preceding 
chapters  attempts  were  made  to  show  that  certain  forms  and 
movements  result  from  certain  forms  of  force.  It  has  now 
to  be  shown  that,  under  certain  conditions,  radiation  causes 
rotation,  and  forms  which  result  from  that  form  of  force. 

Blazing  wax  dropped  on  water  cools  suddenly,  and  the 
mass  radiates.  It  throws  off  streams  of  vapour,  and  the 
recoil  moves  the  parent  mass.  If  the  eruption  caused  by 
radiation  moves  off  from  the  centre  westwards,  the  mass 
moves  east.  When  the  eruption  is  at  a  tangent  to  the  cir- 
cumference, or  at  any  angle  less  than  a  right  angle  to  the 
tangent,  the  parent  mass  turns  on  its  axis.  In  this  case,  the 
movement  only  lasts  for  an  instant,  but  it  proves  that  a  cool- 
ing mass  may  be  made  to  rotate  by  a  force  which  radiates 
from  within. 

Camphor  set  alight  and  afloat  runs  about  on  water,  and  it 
radiates  while  it  burns.  Gutta-percha,  varnish  of  various 
sorts,  and  many  substances,  move  about  when  heated  and 
free  to  move.  If  any  substance  will  float  and  hold  together, 
and  yet  part  with  some  portion  of  its  mass  at  a  low  heat,  this 
action  would  be  better  shown  by  it. 

One  substance  of  this  kind  whirls.     Collodion  kept  for  a 


462  COLLODION. 

long  time  in  an  ill-corked  bottle  turns  into  a  brittle  jelly.  It 
floats  in  water,  a  viscous  mass  in  a  tough  crust,  a  soft  core  of 
ether  and  collodion  in  a  shell.  As  soon  as  the  ether  begins 
to  escape,  each  mass  begins  to  move.  A  temperature  of  60°, 
sufficient  to  boil  ether,  sets  up  radiation,  and  ray-force  causes 
rotation.  As  soon  as  rotation  begins,  the  direction  of  the 
escape  is  determined,  and  each  mass  of  collodion  whirls  so 
long  as  any  ether  is  left  in  it.  When  all  the  force  is  spent, 
the  solid  remnant  sinks,  for  it  is  heavier  than  water. 

A  mass  becomes  globular  or  lenticular  at  first,  and 
moves  by  fits  and  starts.  This  is  an  effect  of  heat.  In 
hot  water,  the  mass  becomes  a  hollow  shell,  whirls  and  often 
bursts.  Placed  in  sunlight,  the  masses  whirl  rapid]y  ;  small 
hollow  spheres  of  collodion  filled  with  the  vapour  of  ether 
form  on  the  outside  and  burst,  and  many  of  these  are  thrown 
off.  At  each  effort,  the  parent  mass  takes  a  fresh  start. 
Sometimes  it  rushes  off  whirling  in  one  direction,  while  the 
small  mass  whirls  off  the  other  way.  Generally,  each  mass 
rotates,  and  also  revolves  about  some  central  point.  Small 
masses  are  attracted  by  large  ones,  move  towards  them  when 
they  get  near,  and  are  whirled  off  again  when  the  pace  is 
sufficient.  The  pace  slackens  gradually,  and  the  globular 
shape  often  changes  to  a  transparent  cup,  through  which 
chambers  and  globular  masses  of  fluid  collodion  and  ether 
may  still  be  seen.  After  the  force  seems  to  be  exhausted  in 
the  shade,  a  ray  of  sunshine  will  set  a  whole  fleet  of  tops 
spinning  faster  than  ever,  and  generally  in  the  old  direction. 
After  about  a  couple  of  hours,  the  charge  of  fluid,  in  a  lump 
as  big  as  a  bean,  is  spent.  Then  the  whirling  stops,  and  the 
hard  collodion,  shrunk  and  shrivelled  like  a  parched  pea,  sinks. 
When  dried,  it  is  like  wrinkled  horn.  This  experiment  has 
been  repeatedly  tried,  in  all  weathers,  and  always  with  like 


WHIRLING.  463 

results.  The  force  is  a  ray-force — the  force  of  heat  in  the 
earth's  atmosphere,  which  drives  ether  away  as  the  earth's  in- 
ternal heat  drives  water  out  of  Strokr,  and  lava  and  ashes  out 
of  Etna.  In  a  bright  sun  the  shadow  of  ether  is  thrown  on  the 
basin  through  water,  and  the  eruptions  can  be  watched  flowing 
outwards  in  streams  which  curve  backwards  like  sealing-wax 
dropped  into  a  whirling  box,  or  ink  on  a  top  (p.  450). 

A  like  result  is  produced  by  pouring  collodion  into  a  cir- 
cular tray  floating  on  water.  The  vessel  sails  about  without 
apparent  reason,  and  sometimes  it  whirls.  The  mechanical 
force  which  thus  overcomes  the  friction  of  water,  and  keeps  a 
mass  whirling  for  two  hours,  would  suffice  to  spin  the  same 
mass  in  free  space  at  a  greater  rate  ;  and  motion  once  begun 
continues  there,  if  astronomers  are  right. 

The  principle  of  this  movement,  and  the  immediate  cause 
of  it,  are  sufficiently  plain :  to  explain  and  account  for  the 
eccentric  paths  of  bodies  of  irregular  shape,  thus  whirling  in 
water,  would  be  a  hard  task  for  any  one,  and  is  far  too  hard  for 
a  traveller  to  attempt.  But  rules  which  govern  movements 
caused  by  spinning  a  top  must  also  govern  those  caused  by 
ray-force  in  whirling  collodion,  and  in  rotating  worlds. 

If  the  collodion  turns  sunwise — south,  west ;  north,  east — 
which  it  generally  does  when  placed  in  sunlight,  it  also 
revolves  in  the  same  direction  about  some  point.  It  rotates 
sunwise  because  ether  escapes  the  other  way  at  first,  and 
probably  ether  takes  that  direction  because  the  shell  is 
thinnest  on  the  shady  side  where  the  heat  is  least,  and 
evaporation  not  so  fast.  There  seems  to  be  no  fixed  rule,  for 
it  often  turns  "  widershins,"  as  the  world  turns. 

Other  substances  illustrate  this  action  of  ray-force.  Gutta- 
percha  floats  on  water,  but  gutta-percha  dissolved  in  chloro- 
form sinks.  Heated  with  a  burning-glass  under  water,  a  mass 


464  BOILING. 

boils,  leaps  up,  explodes,  and  throws  off  small  spheres  ;  some 
of  which  hang  under  the  surface,  others  rise  and  fall  again, 
others  burst  and  float  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  These 
discs  have  chambered  interiors  in  a  ring,  and  their  structure, 
though  complicated,  is  regular.  Kept  in  a  stoppered  bottle 
this  substance  is  like  any  other  fluid ;  exposed  to  sunlight, 
it  grows  into  all  manner  of  quaint  shapes,  and  throws  off 
projectiles,  while  part  of  the  mass  evaporates,  and  the  rest 
becomes  solid.  In  these  small  experiments  light  acted  as 
force,  and  caused  first  radiation,  then  rotation,  and  then  pro- 
jection to  a  distance  at  angles  somewhere  between  a  tangent 
and  a  radius  in  the  plane  of  rotation,  and  at  right  angles  to 
the  axis,  which,  in  this  case,  was  a  ray  reaching  from  the 
earth's  centre  to  London. 

If  ray-force  will  cause  rotation,  any  rotating  body  will 
serve  for  illustration  ;  and  for  lack  of  better  machinery,  a  top 
was  used  to  see  the  effect  of  a  mass  rotating  in  a  fluid  at  rest. 

A  metal  top  was  spun  in  shallow  water,  so  that  the  disc 
was  in  air  and  the  spindle  sunk.  The  vessel  was  placed  on  a 
solid  base,  where  the  sun  shone  on  the  water,  and  light  reflected 
on  the  wall  showed  that  water  was  as  still  as  water  ever  is. 
The  whirling  spindle  set  up  a  system  of  waves,  which  refracted 
and, reflected  light,  and  cast  shadows.  The  top  "hummed," 
and  while  it  did  waves  were  small  and  of  strange  forms.  As 
the  sound  changed,  so  did  the  shape  of  the  waves.  They  were 
like  waves  which  accompany  sounds  made  by  rubbing  the 
finger  on  the  edge  of  a  glass.  Instantaneous  photography 
would  copy  these,  and  that  experiment  may  be  tried  some 
day.*  Besides  these  sound-waves,  the  top  started  others, 
which  seemed  to  set  off  at  tangents,  and  they  spread  as  rings. 

*  These  fluid  forms  are  better  defined  than  curves  which   are  copied  in 
sand  by  vibrations  in  metal  plates. 


WAVES  AND  STREAMS.  465 

Lights  reflected  from  them  seemed  to  revolve  about  the  top 
W.  N.  E.  S.  W. ;  while  the  spindle  turned  the  other  way, 
W.  S.  E.  N.  W.  Lights  and  shadows  thrown  on  a  wall  made  a 
complicated  pattern  of  curves,  turning  opposite  ways,  while 
they  receded  from  the  shadow  of  the  top  rapidly.  These 
were  also  reflected  from  the  sides  of  the  vessel  towards  the 
centre. 

The  revolving  spindle  also  started  a  system  of  slow  cur- 
rents in  the  water.  Burning  sealing-wax  dropped  on  the  disc 
was  thrown  otf,  and  fell  on  the  water.  Discs  of  wax  thrown 
off  by  the  top  floated,  and  showed  movements  at  the  surface. 
These  had  little  in  common  with  the  wave  systems.  The 
floats  moved  slowly,  in  curves,  W.  S.  E.  N.  W.,  as  the  spindle 
moved.  They  also  approached  the  spindle  with  increasing- 
velocity,  passed  it  swiftly,  and  retired,  slackening  their  pace 
gradually  till  they  reached  a  limit,  when  they  returned.  They 
seemed  to  describe  elliptical  paths.  The  spindle  was  in  one 
focus,  and  the  other  moved  round  it,  as  the  whole  system  did, 
W.  S.  E.  N.  W. 

The  simplest  and  therefore  the  best  plan  for  showing 
these  movements  and  curves,  is  to  spin  a  metal  top  in  a  con- 
cave lens.  This  centre,  placed  in  the  middle  of  a  round  tray, 
filled  to  the  depth  of  an  inch  with  water,  keeps  the  top  near 
one  spot.  "Gold  paint"  may  be  got  at  any  artist's  shop. 
Dropped  upon  the  whirling  top,  this  fine  dust  is  thrown  off 
at  tangents,  and  where  it  falls  it  floats.  It  moves  round  the 
top  in  the  direction  of  rotation,  but  it  also  approaches  the 
spindle,  whirls  round  it,  and  sets  off  again.  The  nearer  a 
grain  of  dust  is  to  the  spindle,  the  faster  it  moves.  The 
pattern  produced  is  like  a  series  of  rays  bent  backwards. 
The  whole  system  is  moving  one  way,  but  the  outside  does 
not  keep  pace  with  the  rest,  and  seems  to  lag  behind.  When 

VOL.  II.  2  H 


466  WHIRLING. 

the  top  begins  to  lose  speed,  the  spokes  bend  the  other  way, 
forwards.  But  every  trial  gives  a  different  variety  of  the 
same  pattern ;  and  sometimes  eddies  near  the  outside  turn 
the  other  way. 

To  unravel  that  tangled  skein  of  whirling  curves  would 
be  as  hard  a  task  as  to  explain  the  movements  of  an  egg-shell 
whirling  on  a  fountain  ;  but  the  force  which  pulled  a  string 
and  spun  the  top  was  a  link  in  the  chain  of  causes  which 
made  the  puzzle,  for  the  water  was  a  mirror  before  the  top 
was  spun. 

Collodion  whirls  without  any  force  but  the  force  which 
boils  ether,  and  it  whirls  fast  in  sunlight. 

In  the  first  contrivance,  radiation  set  up  rotation  and 
kept  it  up  for  a  long  time.  In  this,  rotation  arranged  a  fluid 
and  floating  solids  ;  two  opposing  forces  acted  in  one  hori- 
zontal plane,  and  the  earth's  gravitation  did  not  directly  inter- 
fere with  the  curves.  The  top  scattered  projectiles,  as  it  did 
on  the  diagrams  above  described,  but  in  this  case  they  fell 
where  they  could  move.  Some  force,  probably  friction,  at- 
tracted them  towards  the  spindle,  and  dragged  water  and 
dust  towards  one  side  of  the  turning  cylinder.  It  raised  up  a 
small  mound  about  it.  Centrifugal  force  drove  water  away  at 
tangents  to  the  other  side.  The  whole  moved  in  one  direction 
about  an  axis,  and  separate  parts  of  the  system  also  turned 
the  same  way  so  long  as  the  top  continued  to  spin. 

According  to  works  on  astronomy,*  the  sun  and  the  solar 
system  also  turn  one  way.  If  seen  from  the  fixed  axis  of 

*  1.  They  (the  planets)  move  in  the  same  invariable  direction  round  the 
sun  ;  their  course,  as  viewed  from  the  north  side  of  the  ecliptic,  being  contrary 
to  the  hands  of  a  watch 

2.  They  describe  oval  or  elliptical  paths  round  the  sun — not,  however, 
differing  greatly  from  circles 

3.  Their  orbits  are  more  or  less  inclined  to  the  ecliptic 

5.  They  revolve  upon  their  axes  in  the  same  way  as  the  earth 


WAVES  AND  STREAMS.  467 

the  sun  by  an  observer  with  his  head  towards  the  north,  the 
system  would  pass  towards  the  left,  for  it  moves  as  the  hands 
of  a  watch  move  when  the  back  of  it  is  towards  the  Great 
Bear,  or  the  face  of  it  is  turned  towards  the  Southern  Cross. 

In  this  contrivance  movements  were  similar  and  in  the 
same  direction.  When  the  top  was  spun  by  pulling  the 
string  from  the  left  side  of  the  spindle,  everything  turned 
W.  S.  E.  N.  W.  "  against  the  sun,"  as  sailors  say,  or  "widershins." 
Radiation  caused  rotation  :  rotation  spread  and  caused  re- 
volution about  an  axis.  Centrifugal  force  repelled,  but  some 
other  force  attracted  the  system,  and  it  revolved.  Systems 
of  waves  also  radiated  from  the  central  body,  and  they  seemed 
to  move  fastest  from  the  left  side  of  it,  because  they  started 
thence,  and  were  approaching.  The  waves  moved  swiftly, 
and  did  not  interfere  with  the  other  movements. 

One  aim  of  these  and  of  many  other  similar  contrivances 
was  to  set  up  systems  of  radiating  waves,  in  order  to  watch 
their  effect.  Light,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  is  an 
effect  of  waves  analogous  to  sound-waves.  But  if  there  be 
waves  there  must  also  be  something  material  in  which  waves 
can  be  propagated.  There  is  no  sound  when  a  bell  is  struck  in 
the  exhausted  receiver  of  an  air-pump.  But  if  there  be  some 
medium  in  space  through  which  light-waves  move,  it  ought 
to  obey  the  laws  of  motion  like  any  other  material — like  air,  or 
like  water.  If  these  waves  of  light  act  as  waves  of  force,  then 
force,  though  directed  by  a  spinning  top,  may  work  as  force 
does  when  it  radiates  from  a  whirling  star.  In  this  case  the 
waves  moved  faster  than  currents,  and  bodies  of  different 
weight  revolving  about  the  top  moved  at  different  rates  in 

6.  Agreeably  to  the  principles  of  gravitation,  their  velocity  is  greatest  at 
those  parts  of  their  orbit  which  lie  nearest  the  sun 

Hind  quoted,  p.  13.  A  Handbook  of  Astronomy,  by  George  F.  Cham- 
bers, F.R.G.S.  London,  1861. 


4G8  FORCE. 

different  curves.  In  the  collodion  experiment  the  whirling 
resulted  from  ray-force.  It  has  yet  to  be  proved  that  rays 
of  force  do  accompany  rays  of  light;  and  one  way  to  learn 
that  fact  is  the  old  path  to  a  forge. 

There  sights  and  sounds  prove  that  force  is  active.     The 
sky  glows  ;  the  hiss  of  steam,  the  duut  and  thud  of  ham- 
mers, the  crash  and  clang  of  iron  bars,  the  rattle  of  wheels, 
fill  the  air  with  waves  of  discord.     Thirsty  giants  in  armour, 
with  vizors  of  steel  wire,  stand  in  a  spray  of  iron  sparks  near 
the  hammers.     They  are  of  the  class  who  are  now  on  strike, 
and  they  earn  their  high  wages,  for  their  lives  are  short,  if 
they  are  merry  while  they  last.     With  a  loud  warning  shout, 
an  eager  boy  charges  up  wTith  a  white-hot,  hissing,  sputtering 
mass  of  puddled  iron  to  feed  the  hammer  ;  and  it  may  be 
that  another  urchin  charges  the  other  way,  trailing  a  red  ingot 
to  feed  the  rollers.     Every  one  must  take  care  of  himself  in 
this  den  of  fire.     A  giant  in  steel  boots  grips  the  puddler's  ball 
with  a  pair  of  tongs,  and  with  a  dexterous  whirl  and  swing 
it  flies  glowing  through  the  air,  and  lands  on  the  anvil.  There 
it  is  crushed  and  squeezed  till  slag  flows  out  of  it  like  water 
from  a  sponge.     The  mass  is  chambered  like  some  meteorites. 
When  the  blow  comes,  sparks  radiate  like  rays  from  a  star  ; 
and  each  in  turn  radiates  light,  heat,  and  force  ;  for  the  sparks 
hiss  when  they  touch  water,  and  they  burn  skin  and  clothes. 
Great  scissors  gape,  and  nibble  off  the  end  of  a  steel  bar,  as  a 
horse  bites  a  carrot.     Another  pair  of  steel  jaws  may  be  found 
champing  the  air  at  your  elbow,  and  when  that  mouth  gets  a 
bar  to  bite  instead  of  a  bone,  it  snaps  it  off  with  a  crunch,  and 
gapes  for  more.      Still  larger  shears  shred  boiler-plates  like 
silk.     At  the  rollers,  a  block  goes  in  and  a  bar  comes  out, 
streaming  with  fluid   slag    squeezed  out.     The   iron   comes 
charging  over  iron  plates,  like  a  red  snake  uncoiling  ;   a  boy 


KAYS.  469 

seizes  the  head,  and  turns  it  back,  and  the  bar  comes  out  as 
thin  as  an  eel  or  a  ribbon.  A  few  more  turns  and  it  would 
be  a  wire.  It  is  no  place  to  dream  in,  but  there  is  plenty  to 
see  by  this  furnace-light. 

If  the  engine  is  worked  by  steam-power,  then  all  the  force 
came  out  of  the  boiler-fire,  and  went  towards  the  earth  :  if 
worked  by  water-power,  rays,  which  work  the  atmosphere, 
lifted  water  and  poured  it  into  the  milldam.  So  in  a  forge,  as 
elsewhere,  part  of  the  force  used  was  in  rays  of  light. 

When  a  large  casting  is  to  be  made,  a  furnace  is  tapped, 
and  tons  of  metal  are  run  off  into  great  vessels,  lined  with  clay, 
as  men  run  ale  from  a  vat.  It  often  happens  that  the  metal 
is  too  hot  for  immediate  use,  and  it  is  allowed  to  rest  for  a 
while  in  its  great  caldron.  It  is  a  beautiful  object.  The  sur- 
face is  in  constant  motion,  and  it  shines  and  glows.  Creamy 
red  islets  form  on  it,  and  move  rapidly,  while  shining  lanes  of 
bright  metal  curl  and  twine  beautiful  patterns  of  coloured 
light.  The  smooth  hot  fluid  is  darker  than  the  scum  next 
above  it,  and  the  highest  points  darken  before  the  scum.  Every 
moment  some  bright  spark  flies  off,  whirling  and  shining  like 
a  star ;  each  describes  a  luminous  curve  in  the  air,  and  some 
burst  like  rockets  and  scatter  a  spray  of  light.  There  is  a 
force  in  the  fluid,  and  it  radiates  like  rays  of  light. 

If  it  were  free  to  move,  iron  would  revolve,  because  collo- 
dion and  other  substances  move  and  revolve  when  they  cast 
off  projectiles. 

To  cool  the  iron,  cold  scrap-iron  is  sometimes  dropped  in, 
and  these  masses  float  deep  and  melt  as  ice  does  in  boiling 
water,  or  sink  if  the  solid  is  heavier  than  the  fluid.  These 
are  sometimes  wet,  and  when  they  are,  water  explodes  and 
drops  of  iron  are  cast  whirling  to  great  distances  by  steam. 
The  power  still  radiates,  but  it  acts  more  powerfully  on  this 


470  RAYS. 

substance.  The  same  amount  of  ray-force  produces  different 
rates  of  expansion  ;  but  this  action,  like  the  first,  shapes  pro- 
jectiles, and  throws  them  away  from  a  hot  mass  of  iron. 
It  radiates  : — it  shines,  it  is  hot,  and  it  throws  off  sparks. 

Before  iron  is  run  to  be  made  into  shot  and  shell  at  Wool- 
wich, the  slag  which  floats  in  the  furnace,  like  oil  on  water,  is 
run  from  the  other  side.  It  pours  down  and  freezes  like  a 
hollow  icicle  where  it  falls,  but  a  large  mound  of  it  grows  be- 
fore the  day  is  done.  In  it  is  a  magazine  of  ray-force.  While 
the  mound  is  hot,  it  throws  off  a  spray  of  shining  drops.  As 
the  mass  cools,  these  get  smaller  and  do  not  fly  so  far.  Some 
about  the  size  of  No.  6  shot  were  thrown  more  than  twenty 
feet  at  first,  but  after  ten  minutes  the  range  was  only  two  or 
three  feet,  and  in  half  an  hour  the  distances  traversed  could 
be  measured  by  inches.  It  was  a  magazine,  but  not  an  in- 
exhaustible magazine  of  force. 

A  ton  of  iron  throws  shot  and  shell  through  tubes  in  a 
crust,  as  the  earth  does.  Hot  slag  does  the  same ;  and  when 
the  slag  is  broken,  the  guns  may  be  found  aiming  at  the  sky, 
as  volcanoes  do.  In  some  of  these,  half-made  shot  may  be 
found  also. 

They  are  generally  egg-shaped  chambers  with  the  small 
end  uppermost,  and  the  slag  is  often  spongy  near  the  large 
end.  After  the  slag  has  ceased  to  fire  these  volleys  the  sur- 
face turns  dusky  red,  and  darkens.  If  water  is  thrown  on  at 
this  stage  the  crust  blackens  and  contracts,  water  boils  above 
and  in  cracks,  and  fluid  under  the  crust  often  wells  up  as  a 
shining  spring  of  lava  wells  up  from  under  the  dark  crust 
in  which  hot  springs  boil  in  Iceland.  The  projectiles  now 
are  drops  of  hot  water,  or  fragments  urged  by  steam ;  the  old 
guns  are  changed  into  steam-guns  ;  but  force  which  drives  the 
shot  is  in  the  slag,  and  it  radiates.  When  the  crust  is  broken 


RAYS.  471 

it  shines  as  the  earth  shines  when  a  lava-spring  is  driven  up 
by  ray-force. 

As  the  charge  of  force  is  expended,  the  action  decreases  ; 
and  when  the  mass  is  as  cold  as  the  space  about  it  the  move- 
ment ends.  Till  that  balance  is  reached  the  attraction  of  gra- 
vitation is  overcome  by  the  opposite  force,  which  radiates 
where  light  shines  from  a  furnace,  or  from  the  earth. 

Where  electro-magnetic  light,  earth-light,  and  furnace-light 
shine,  there  also  force  radiates.  Lava,  silver,  iron,  slag,  all 
radiate  force,  when  they  radiate  light,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun 
also  are  accompanied  by  mechanical  force. 

The  rays  of  the  sun  reflected  from  the  earth's  crust  and 
absorbed  by  it,  by  the  atmosphere  and  the  ocean,  at  a  distance 
of  ninety-five  millions  of  miles,  or  at  some  other  less  enormous 
distance  according  to  recent  discoveries,  cause  radiating 
movements.  Solar  rays  furnish  most  of  the  power  to  engines, 
whose  tool-marks  are  denudation  and  deposition.  The  same 
rays,  reflected  from  a  rough  convex  surface  in  the  moon,  and 
therefore  greatly  dispersed,  still  act  as  force,  for  they  move 
the  index  of  a  thermometer.  Piazzi  Smyth  when  on  the 
shoulder  of  Teneriffe,  and  above  the  clouds,  got  a  black  bulb 
thermometer  up  to  212°  in  the  sun's  direct  rays:  he  got  about 
half  as  much  heat  from  the  moon  as  he  got  from  a  candle  on 
a  stool  at  a  distance  of  15  feet.* 

ISTo  thermometer  yet  contrived  will  measure  heat  reflected 
from  distant  planets  ;  none  will  measure  heat  reflected  from 
a  window  in  Calais,  and  radiated  from  the  electric  light  on 
the  English  coast ;  but  nevertheless  heat-rays  cross  the  Channel 
with  beams  of  light. 

The  air  gets  colder  the  higher  we  go,  and  hotter  as  we 
descend,  but  the  sun's  rays  get  hotter  and  brighter  as  the  air 

*  P.  231.      Teneriffe,  1858.     London.     By  C.  Piazzi  Smyth,  etc.  etc. 


472  RAYS. 

clears.  At  p.  487  is  a  diagram  drawn  by  the  sun,  which 
proves  that  the  atmosphere  absorbs  the  light,  the  heat,  the 
burning  power,  and  the  mechanical  force  of  rays. 

If  the  sun's  rays  so  act  at  this  distance,  it  seems  to  follow 
that  they  must  also  act  as  ray-force  at  their  source  in  the 
sun.  If  they  do  so  act,  then  visible  forms  on  the  sun's  disc 
ought  to  be  a  legible  index.  In  order  to  learn  that  alphabet, 
the  sun's  rays  must  be  set  to  work. 

In  order  to  prove  that  rays  of  mechanical  force  do  accom- 
pany the  sun's  rays,  they  were  set  to  make  pictures,  to  carve 
wood,  to  model  wax,  and  to  move  machinery. 

In  the  first  place,  the  sun  was  set  to  make  photographic 
portraits  of  himself,  and  these  are  some  of  the  expedients 
used  instead  of  an  observatory  : — 

On  the  flat  top  of  an  out-house  in  a  garden  a  mirror 
was  placed  in  a  flower-pot,  and  so  fixed  as  to  reflect  the 
sun's  rays  downwards  through  a  hole.  The  first  flower-pot 
was  placed  on  a  second  turned  upside  down,  so  the  sun's 
reflected  rays  passed  down  through  a  diaphragm.  This 
arrangement  stood  over  a  hole  in  the  roof,  and  over  it 
the  lens  of  a  telescope  was  laid  flat.  By  it  the  rays  were 
refracted  to  a  focus  in  a  dark  room.  The  image  formed 
was  about  the  size  of  a  BB  shot,  and  it  had  to  be  mag- 
nified. Below  the  focus  an  iron  retort-stand  was  placed,  and 
in  it  a  |-plate  lens  by  Ross  was  fixed.  The  second  lens 
formed  a  second  image.  By  varying  the  distance  between 
lens  and  object,  the  size  and  place  of  an  image  can  be 
varied.  If  the  lens  is  near  the  object,  the  image  is  far 
from  it,  and  larger  than  the  object ;  when  the  lens  is  far  from 
the  object,  and  rays  are  nearly  parallel,  the  image  formed  is 
near  the  lens,  and  smaller  than  the  object.  The  image  formed 
by  the  first  lens  was  smaller  than  the  sun,  which  was  the 


SUN  PICTURES.  473 

object,  because  the  sun's  rays  are  nearly  parallel  at  this  dis- 
tance from  the  sun.  From  that  image  rays  diverged,  visibly 
if  air  was  misty  or  smoky  in  the  room.  The  second  lens, 
and  a  sheet  of  white  paper,  were  so  placed  as  to  form  and 
catch  an  image  a  great  deal  larger  than  the  object  to  be  mag- 
nified, which  was  the  image  of  the  sun  in  the  focus  of  the 
first  lens.  In  short,  the  photographic  lens  was  an  eye-piece. 
A  common  telescope  fixed  in  a  window-shutter,  and  aimed  at 
the  sun,  will  give  a  magnified  image,  by  sliding  the  draw-tube 
till  the  focus  is  found  for  any  screen,  but  the  vertical  arrange- 
ment was  made  with  a  purpose. 

The  distances  having  been  found,  a  sheet  of  cardboard 
with  a  hole  in  it  was  fixed  upon  the  iron  shaft  of  the  retort- 
stand,  and  the  light  was  shut  off. 

A  collodion  plate  was  then  substituted  for  the  white  paper, 
and  the  card  was  whirled  through  the  beam  of  light ;  so  that 
light  passed  through  the  hole  during  some  fraction  of  a 
second. 

A  copy  of  the  best  result  obtained  is  at  the  end.  It  is  a 
negative  on  glass,  so  developed  as  to  whiten  it.  The  collodion 
film  was  covered  with  a  layer  of  black  oil-paint,  and  backed 
with  blotting-paper.  It  tells  light  on  a  dark  ground,  and  is 
a  portrait  of  the  sun  drawn  by  himself  in  black  and  white. 
The  first  mirror  tried  was  silvered  glass  of  the  ordinary  kind, 
and  it  gave  a  double  image  ;  the  second  was  a  sheet  of  plate- 
glass,  backed  with  black  paint,  to  absorb  one  of  the  reflections. 
It  is  very  easy  to  describe  this  contrivance ;  it  was  by  no 
means  easy  to  work  it.  The  sun  would  not  stand  still,  and 
the  reflected  rays  moved  ;  the  image  moved  ;  the  place  for  the 
screen  changed  at  every  moment ;  clouds  got  in  the  way  at 
the  instant  when  all  was  adjusted  ;  and  when  the  cloud  had 
passed,  the  sun  was  out  of  the  field  till  the  mirror  was  set 


474  SUN  PICTURES. 

again.  Late  in  the  day,  the  sun  got  entangled  in  a  tree,  and 
he  hid  behind  smoky  chimneys  in  the  morning.  A  bright 
morning  often  changed  to  a  cloudy  noon.  Besides  all  these 
difficulties,  the  ordinary  ills  of  photography  interfered  ;  and 
lastly,  when  all  was  done,  a  tidy  housemaid  starred  the  glass 
of  the  picture  now  engraved. 

Fourteen  pictures  survive,  and  no  two  are  alike.  In  those 
which  have  double  images  curves  and  other  forms  are  re- 
peated with  more  or  less  intensity,  but  the  forms  are  the  same. 
They  do  not  result  from  photographic  manipulation,  but  from 
something  beyond  the  mirror  which  doubled  the  reflection. 
Two  pictures  were  taken  on  one  glass,  by  passing  the  screen 
through  the  beam  of  light  a  second  time,  after  waiting  long 
enough  for  the  image  to  move  its  own  breadth.  Even  these 
do  not  tally,  for  clouds  in  the  earth's  atmosphere  and  London 
smoke  interfered ;  but  enough  remained  to  show  that  the 
forms  copied  are  beyond  the  clouds,  for  parts  of  the  forms  are 
repeated  though  not  the  whole.  In  some  respects  all  the 
pictures  resemble  each  other. 

If  developed  so  as  to  make  a  "  good  negative,"  the  sun's 
image  is  a  black  spot.  If  very  slightly  developed,  so  as 
barely  to  show  an  image  at  first,  details  come  out  when  the 
collodion  is  covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  white  oil-paint, 
and  then  the  picture  is  safe,  though  black  upon  a  white 
ground.  Generally,  each  picture  is  surrounded  by  a  ring  of 
light,  which  is  dark  in  the  negative.  One  edge  is  darker 
than  the  other.  Edges  are  often  fluted  and  rough,  as  if  the 
image  were  distorted  by  waves  in  the  earth's  atmosphere. 
These  waves  are  easily  seen  on  a  hot  day,  and  they  impede 
telescopic  observations  ;  here  they  are  copied  on  the  edge 
of  an  object  of  known  angular  size,  so  they  can  be  measured. 
They  show  that  the  air  is  moving  like  hot  water ;  rising 


SUN  PICTURES.  475 

from  the  hot  ground,  which  absorbs  heat  from  the  sun,  and 
gives  it  back  to  space  as  ray-force. 

The  sun's  disc  is  streaked  and  barred,  and  spotted  in 
patterns,  and  when  a  series  are  placed  together  the  patterns 
have  something  in  common. 

When  the  strongest  side  of  the  ring  is  to  the  left,  dark 
bars,  which  are  bars  of  light,  cross  the  sun's  disc,  as  spots 
do  in  zones  parallel  to  the  sun's  equator. 

Shortly  after  an  eclipse,  a  photograph  of  the  sun  was 
taken  with  a  lens,  which  gave  an  image  about  the  size  of 
BB  shot.  A  well-marked  band  is  in  this  picture.  Another 
observer  noticed  a  similar  appearance,  of  which  he  published 
an  account,  I  think,  in  the  Photographic  Journal,  1858. 
The  band,  or  one  like  it,  is  well  shown  on  another  picture, 
two  inches  in  diameter  ;  and  in  one  about  an  inch  and  a  half 
broad  more  bands  are  shown.  One  small  picture  has  a  whole 
series  of  bands.  When  placed  under  a  microscope,  this  pic- 
ture has  several  crescent-shaped  gibbous  spots,  which,  from 
their  size,  may  be  grains  of  dust ;  but  they  have  the  illumi- 
nation which  they  might  have  if  they  were  bodies  within  less 
than  a  degree  of  the  sun's  disc. 

The  picture  selected  for  engraving  is  like  Maury's  dia- 
gram of  the  winds,  copied  at  p.  28,  vol.  i. ;  like  ocean-currents 
in  the  Atlantic,  laid  down  upon  a  new  terrestrial  globe  lately 
published  at  Berlin.  Others  are  somewhat  like  portraits  of 
Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter  and  his  satellites,  made  by  able  astro- 
nomers, and  published  in  the  Handbook  of  Astronomy,  by 
George  F.  Chambers,  in  1861.  In  some,  lines  and  patterns 
interlace  like  lines  of  light  on  hot  fluids,  and  some  patterns  are 
drawn  on  the  principle  of  lines  drawn  from  pole  to  pole  on  a  re- 
volving globe.  In  one,  the  sun's  disc  is  barred  with  straight 
lines  which  meet  at  various  angles,  and  make  a  pattern  like 


476  SUN  PICTURES. 

that  flashing  northern  aurora  which  Scotch  peasants  call  the 
"  Merry-dancers."  This  very  rude  photographic  eye  saw  rays 
which  common  eyes  did  not  see  on  the  white  paper,  and  it  did 
not  see  "  spots  on  the  sun,"  which  were  conspicuous  objects  on 
the  screen.  The  conclusion  arrived  at  was  that  the  camera 
saw  through  the  sun's  atmosphere  which  dazzles  eyes,  and 
copied  the  currents  in  it  against  a  luminous  background  of 
less  intensity.  Perhaps  the  black  mirror  absorbed  rays  which 
are  reflected  by  other  mirrors. 

A  heliostat  set  to  reflect  the  sun's  rays,  through  a  telescope 
aimed  at  the  pole,  would  cure  most  of  the  evils  which  beset 
this  rude  observatory,  but  there  was  no  heliostat  handy.  The 
only  telescope  owned  had  a  chemical  focus,  and  was  sadly 
battered  ;  and  so  this  troublesome  work  was  abandoned  as 
soon  as  a  result  was  obtained.  Better  machinery,  constructed 
on  the  same  principle,  may  perhaps  be  tried  soon.* 

*  The  plan  devised  for  observing  the  sun  may  be  explained  in  a  very  few 
words.  It  was  not  carried  out  for  lack  of  a  hill  and  a  heliostat,  and  for  other 
reasons.  On  some  hill-side  facing  the  south — say  Arthur's  Seat,  near  Edin- 
burgh ;  Primrose  Hill,  Highgate,  Hampstead,  or  Sydenham,  near  London, — 
observe  the  pole-star,  and  choose  a  place  which  brings  the  true  north  to  the 
brink  of  the  hill.  Mark  the  place  of  the  eye,  and  of  a  sight  on  the  hill-top 
due  north.  About  this  line  of  sight,  which  is  a  straight  line  parallel  to  the 
earth's  axis,  build  a  passage,  or  else  dig  one  below  it,  so  as  to  make  a  fixed 
tube.  At  either  end  of  the  tunnel  place  a  heliostat,  with  the  axis  in  the  axis 
of  the  tube,  and  at  the  other  end  place  a  screen  at  right  angles  to  the  axis. 
By  changing  the  angle  of  the  reflectors,  any  ray  may  be  reflected  up  or  down 
the  tube,  and  any  arrangement  of  lenses  may  be  set  in  the  ray.  The  only 
artificial  motion  required  is  a  clock  to  turn  the  heliostat.  The  earth  does  the 
rest.  A  very  little  sunlight  will  make  an  impression,  so  one  lens  of  small 
aperture  and  long  focus  would  serve  for  solar  photography.  Amongst  the  ad- 
vantages of  this  plan  are  steadiness  in  the  whole  contrivance,  even  tempera- 
ture in  the  tube,  and  cheapness.  The  chief  cost  would  be  that  of  a  passage 
of  equal  dimensions,  if  built,  or  the  cost  of  driving  a  shaft  through  the  top 
of  Arthur's  Seat,  if  that  were  the  place  chosen. 


SUN  PICTURES.  477 

So  rude  were  these  experiments,  that  no  record  was  taken  of 
the  bearings  of  the  plates.  The  picture  selected  has  been 
placed  on  the  page  with  bearings  suggested  by  itself.  As  the 
sun  is  turning  from  west  to  east,  light-waves  ought  to  travel 
fastest  from  the  eastern  edge,  which  is  approaching,  and  fastest 
from  the  equator.  The  image  ought,  according  to  theory,  to 
be  brightest  at  one  spot,  namely  the  place  where  the  equator 
cuts  the  advancing  limb.  That  spot  has  been  placed  to  the 
left,  and  all  other  forms  fit.  The  darkest  parts  of  the  disc 
are  to  the  right,  where  the  surface  ought  to  be  receding  ; 
and  above  and  below  the  equator  near  the  poles,  where  move- 
ment is  slower,  and  light  less  direct,  than  it  is  at  lower  lati- 
tudes. The  picture  may  be  a  fallacy,  but  it  is  so  like  a  fact 
that  it  is  placed  here  to  be  compared  with  others. 

Everybody  knows  that  the  sun  will  paint  his  own  picture, 
but  this  particular  portrait  is  peculiar. 

It  joins  in  with  the  rest  of  these  whirling  diagrams,  for  it 
is  drawn  on  the  principle  of  the  whole  series.  It  is  a  form 
which  resulted  from  the  whirling  of  the  sun  and  from  solar 
radiation  ;  the  forms  so  copied  are  like  those  which  result 
from  the  whirling  of  the  world,  maps,  and  tops. 

On  the  18th  of  July  1860,  a  great  many  photographic 
contrivances  were  tried.  An  account  of  the  successful  opera- 
tions of  Mr.  Warren  de  la  Eue  is  in  the  Photographic 
Journal  for  August  1860,  p.  297.  A  scheme  tried  in  London 

Two  reflections — one  towards  the  pole,  another  in  any  other  direction — 
will  steady  the  sun's  ray  on  a  point.  The  ray  may  be  sent  up  or  down — up  a 
tall  chimney,  or  down  a  coal-pit  or  an  old  well,  or  along  a  dark  passage. 
The  effect  of  two  reflections  has  not  been  tried  ;  but  two  plane  mirrors,  one 
small  lens,  and  a  clock,  might  be  made  true  as  easily  as  the  numerous  lenses  of 
an  astronomical  telescope,  with  all  its  complicated  and  costly  machinery.  In 
one  case,  the  whole  structure  follows  the  sky  ;  in  the  other,  the  ray  is  turned 
into  the  telescope  which  the  earth  turns. 


478  SUN  PICTURES. 

answered  tolerably  well,  though  the  apparatus  used  was  of 
the  rudest. 

A  common  photographic  camera  was  placed  on  a  stand, 
aimed  at  the  sun,  focussed  carefully  with  the  full  aperture ; 
and  a  stop,  with  a  hole  about  an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
was  placed  in  contact  with  the  outer  side  of  the  object-glass. 
It  was  found  by  experiment  that  the  sun's  image  alone  made 
an  impression  on  a  collodion  plate,  when  the  cover  was  lifted 
and  rapidly  replaced  by  hand,  when  the  sky  was  clear. 
By  waiting  a  certain  time,  the  sun  and  the  sun's  image  moved 
far  enough  to  separate  images  on  the  plate  ;  and  the  film  kept 
wet  for  half  an  hour.  Having  set  this  instrument  with  a 
plate  in  position,  all  the  observer  had  to  do  was  to  lift  and 
replace  the  cover  at  regular  intervals,  without  shaking  the 
camera.  The  world  turned  the  instrument  more  steadily 
than  clockwork.  If  time  is  accurately  divided,  the  distance 
from  image  to  image  is  a  scale  divided  by  the  engine  which 
keeps  the  best  astronomical  time. 

At  1.32 1  mean  time,  according  to  a  neighbouring  astrono- 
mer's clock,  the  cover  was  lifted  for  the  first  time,  and  it  was 
opened  and  closed  seven  times,  the  last  at  1.56  J.  The  sky  was 
very  cloudy,  so  the  cover  was  lifted  when  there  was  a  chance. 
The  first  plate  was  developed  by  an  assistant,  a  second  was 
placed,  and  the  camera  was  turned  a  few  degrees  by  2.02, 
and  so  on  till  2.58£.  In  all  38  attempts  to  take  pictures 
of  the  sun  were  made  on  seven  plates,  and  of  these  35  trials 
succeeded.  In  particular,  three  out  of  four  trials  at 

h.       m. 

2— 30* 
2— 33* 
2— 36£ 
2— 


SUN  PICTURES.  479 

according  to  the  watch  used,  and  the  time  corrected  from 
the  neighbour's  clock,  gave  three  crescents  differently 
placed.  They  are  all  within  half  an  inch  of  each  other,  but 
clear  and  distinct  pictures  which  bear  magnifying.  The 
object  aimed  at  was  to  catch  the  "red  flames"  which  were 
caught  by  Warren  de  la  Eue  in  Spain.  In  London  the 
instrument  used  and  the  plan  tried  failed  to  catch  these 
forms  ;  but  it  caught  the  eclipse,  and  it  cost  very  little. 

In  five  of  these  pictures,  taken  about  the  time  of  greatest 
obscuration,  the  upper  horn  of  the  crescent  has  a  tiny  dot 
beyond  it.  The  relative  positions  of  points  and  dots  vary 
slightly,  at  a  regular  rate.  This  is  the  place  to  find  "  Baily's 
beads,"  and  these  may  perhaps  be  photographs  of  that  pheno- 
menon. The  passage  of  the  top  of  some  tall  lunar  mountain 
along  the  sun's  edge  would  make  the  horn  of  the  crescent 
seem  blunt  or  broken.  Constellations  of  collodion  "  pin-holes" 
and  "  dust-spots"  on  the  film  interfere  sadly  with  observations 
on  this  minute  scale. 

This  method  succeeds  well  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
but  during  the  eclipse  it  produced  some  curious  results. 
Some  of  the  crescents  came  out  negative  or  black  ;  others  came 
out  positive  or  transparent.  Of  four  pictures  on  one  plate,  1 
is  a  faint  negative  with  a  bright  edge  ;  2  is  a  good  negative 
with  a  bright  edge  ;  3  is  gray  all  over,  but  positive  ;  4  is 
nearly  transparent.  Of  five  pictures  on  another  plate,  one  is 
black  with  a  transparent  edge  ;  another  is  equally  transparent 
in  all  parts  ;  the  rest  vary.  Diffused  light  produces  this 
effect,  but  on  other  occasions  eight  pictures  of  the  sun  have 
been  taken  on  the  same  plate,  all  of  equal  intensity. 

These  photographic  expedients  are  sufficient  to  prove  that 
the  sun's  rays  will  cause  movements  in  photographic  chemi- 
cals. Everybody  now  knows  that  fact,  and  everybody  wants 


480  ENGRAVING. 

to  have  a  portrait  of  everybody,  except  the  sun,  which  seems 
ungrateful  at  least. 

It  is  not  so  well  known  that  the  sun  will  engrave. 


FIG.  112.    WOOD-ENGRAVING  BY  SUNLIGHT.    THE  SUN'S  PATH  IN  THE  SKY. 
Lines  engraved  by  the  sun  on  a  vertical  plane  of  wood  placed  in  the  focus  of  a  spherical 
lens.     Winter  solstice,  1863,  about  six  weeks. 

The  sun  was  set  to  carve  wood,  and  here  is  a  specimen 
from  a  block  engraved  by  the  sun.  A  glass  ball  was  placed 
on  a  stand  outside  a  window,  and  a  wood-engraver's  block  was 
placed  to  the  north  of  it ;  the  printing  surface  was  in  a  ver- 
tical plane,  and  near  the  focus  of  the  glass  ball.  The  world 
turned  the  block  towards  the  east ;  the  sun's  rays  turned  on 
the  centre  of  the  ball,  as  a  compass-needle  turns  on  a  pivot ; 
and  the  sun's  image  in  the  focus  travelled  eastwards  as  the 
sun  appeared  to  travel  west.  Where  it  travelled,  there  it 
left  a  deep  charred  spoor.  In  the  morning  the  image  was 
at  W.,  in  the  evening  at  E.,  and  it  made  a  deep  hollow 
curve.  By  capsizing  and  turning  it  end  for  end,  the  impres- 
sion is  righted,  the  curve  is  made  convex  to  the  plane  of  the 
horizon,  and  the  sun's  path  is  from  E.  to  W.  on  the  paper,  as 
it  is  in  the  sky  to  the  south.  The  sun  was  moving  from  the 
Tropic  of  Capricorn  northwards,  so  the  path  varied  each  day. 
The  sky  was  cloudy,  so  the  spoor  was  broken.  The  image 
moved  on  a  sphere,  the  surface  was  a  plane ;  so  the  sun's 
round  image  drilled  oval  holes. 


ENGRAVING.  481 

The  diagram  proves  that  the  sun's  rays  set  up  chemical 
action,  and  burn  boxwood  as  a  hot  iron  might ;  and  that  they 
also  work  as  mechanical  force,  for  they  tore  the  wood.  It 
tore  along  rays  which  radiate  from  a  centre  of  growth,  but  the 
strongest  man  living  could  not  so  tear  boxwood  with  his 
hands. 

Here  is  another  specimen  of  the  same  art :  Two  dotted 
lines  were  drawn  by  the  sun  10th  March  1862  and  23d 
November  1863,  when  the  sky  was  dotted  with  flying  clouds. 


FIG.  113.  THE  SUN'S  PATH  ON  Two  CLOUDY  DAYS. 

The  place  where  each  passed  the  sun  is  marked  by  a  dark 
space.  The  place  where  the  sun  was,  when  the  cloud  had 
passed,  is  marked  by  a  white  spot,  or  by  the  beginning  of  a 
white  line.  In  the  wood,  the  white  spaces  are  at  the  edges 
of  deep  holes  and  grooves  burned 
away  by  hot  rays.  The  curves  do 
not  coincide,  because  the  block  was 
in  different  positions. 

If  passing  clouds  and  the  sun 
thus  divide  a  line,  space  may  be 
divided  by  making  light  and  dark- 
ness recur  at  regular  intervals  of 

FIG.  114.  SOLAR  SCALE. 

time. 

Here  is  a  scale  made  on  this  principle,  April  1865. 

A  block  was  placed  opposite  to  a  ball  of  glass,  with  the 
surface  within  the  burning  focus.     At  425  the  sun  burned  a 

VOL.  II.  2  I 


482  DIVIDING. 

dot.  The  block  was  then  moved  by  turning  the  stand  on 
which  it  was  placed,  in  azimuth.  At  4.27  the  lens  was 
uncovered,  and  it  began  to  burn.  At  4.35  it  was  covered, 
at  4.37  open  ;  4.45  shut,  4.47  open  ;  4.55  shut,  4.57  open  ; 
5.5  shut.  It  was  found  that  the  image  was  too  large  to  show 
divisions,  so  the  table  was  turned  a  few  degrees,  and  the  lens 
uncovered  for  eight  minutes.  At  5.13  it  was  closed,  and 
after  that  time  the  sun  was  hid  by  clouds.  This  scale  is 
correctly  drawn  by  the  movement  of  the  earth  ;  on  a  vertical 
plane,  which  is  a  section  of  a  sphere,  with  the  radius  of  the 
burning  focus  ;  and  it  proves  that  photographs  taken  on  flat 
surfaces  must  be  distorted.  Thirty  minutes  of  time  are  equal 
to  7£  degrees  of  the  circle  on  which  the  sun  appears  to  move. 
Eight  minutes  are  equal  to  two  degrees ;  and  it  is  evident  that 
spaces  and  dimensions  are  unequal  on  the  block. 

The  same  block  was  first  tried  in  the  focus  of  a  i -plate 
lens  by  Ross.  The  sun  marked  the  block,  but  did  not 
burn  the  wood  so  as  to  make  a  groove.  Many  scales  have 
been  made  with  the  same  instrument  on  collodion  plates, 
and  there  is  no  practical  limit  to  the  minuteness  of  a  scale 
thus  divided.  An  image  of  the  sun  in  the  focus  of  the 
smallest  lens  ever  made  will  move  a  certain  angular  distance 
in  a  given  time,  and  a  collodion  film  will  take  impressions  of 
it.  These  blocks  are  only  meant  to  show  how  the  thing  may 
be  done.* 

The  point  to  be  made  good  is,  that  the  sun's  rays  will  do 
the  work  of  hot  iron  at  a  distance  of  a  certain  number  of 
millions  of  miles  from  the  source,  and  these  diagrams  prove 
the  fact,  which  anyone  can  prove  with  a  burning-glass,  by 

*  The  principle  was  applied  to  drawings  made  for  the  Lighthouse  Com- 
mission, some  of  which  were  published  in  the  report  1861  ;  and  it  is  a  con- 
trivance which  may  be  useful,  so  it  is  here  described. 


DIVIDING.  483 

writing  his  name  on  a  walking-stick,  if  he  chooses  to  take 
that  trouble,  on  a  summer's  day. 

The  pattern  which  results  from  the  whirling  of  a  spindle 
in  still  water  is  founded  on  opposite  curves  :  one  set  is  drawn 
away  from  the  circumference,  the  other  set  towards  it  on  the 
opposite  side.  Such  curves  are  drawn  on  watch-cases  by 
engine-turning.  As  the  sun's  rays  engrave,  and  the  world  is 
whirling,  rays  may  do  the  work  of  a  steel  point  on  a  surface 
moved  by  the  world,  instead  of  a  lathe. 

In  1857  the  Meteorological  Journal  printed  a  paper  "  on  a 
new  self-registering  sun-diaL"  It  is  worked  on  this  principle, 
and  it  can  be  applied  to  various  uses.* 

The  instrument  is  of  the  simplest  description.  A  ball  of 
glass  is  placed  upon  a  truncated  cone  of  lead,  in  a  hemi- 
spherical bowl  made  of  wood  or  stone,  or  metal  or  glass,  or 
any  other  substance.  The  centre  of  the  solid  sphere  coincides 
with  that  of  the  hollow  hemisphere,  and  the  dimensions  are 
so  arranged  as  to  make  the  image  formed  by  the  glass  coincide 
with  the  hollow  surface.  The  common  centre — the  apex  of 
the  truncated  cone — is  the  "  fixed  rest"  of  the  lathe,  the  sun's 
image  is  the  cutting  point,  and  the  other  end  of  the  chisel  is 
about  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  away,  fixed  in  the  sun,  for 
it  is  a  double  cone  of  rays  of  light.  The  edge  of  the  bowl 
must  be  level,  and  the  instrument  placed  where  the  horizon 
is  visible.  To  use  a  photographer's  phrase,  this  is  a  camera 
with  an  angular  aperture  of  180°.  The  image  is  formed  upon 
a  hemispherical  screen,  and  the  high  light  alone  is  copied  in 
the  picture.  The  sun's  image  in  the  bowl  copies  the  sun's 

*  At  the  end  of  the  paper  is  this  passage  : — "If  it  were  in  general  use,  the 
sunny  and  cloudy  regions  of  the  world  might  be  laid  down  with  greater 
accuracy,  and  deductions  might  perhaps  be  drawn  from  direct  observations 
bearing  on  questions  of  general  science  foreign  to  this  description  of  an  instru- 
ment." 


484  ENGINE-TURNING. 

o 

apparent  path  in  the  blue  vault  of  the  sky,  and  the  shadow  of 
the  glass  ball  moves  in  the  dial,  with  a  burning  centre  of 
brilliant  light.  If  the  blue  vault  were  a  screen,  the  world's 
shadow  would  move  round  the  sun  in  a  year,  on  curves  like 
those  which  the  sun's  image  draws  on  the  bowl.  When 
the  moon  gets  in  the  way,  there  is  an  eclipse  of  the  moon. 

If  the  instrument  is  placed  in  position  when  the  sun  is  on 
the  tropic  of  Capricorn,  the  image  begins  to  burn  on  the 
western  side  as  soon  as  the  rising  sun  has  risen  high  enough 
in  the  eastern  sky  to  clear  vapours  which  absorb  light  near 


FIG.  115.  ENGINE-TURNING  BY  SUNLIGHT. 

Here  is  a  section  from  a  block,  sawn  out  parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  horizon  from  the 
meridian  westwards.  It  represents  the  sun's  burning  power  during  the  morning  for  about 
a  quarter  of  a  year,  at  an  altitude  of  about  twelve  degrees.  The  depth  of  the  groove  may 
be  measured  by  completing  the  circle,  of  which  an  arc  remains.  The  blank  near  the  middle 
corresponds  to  a  similar  blank  on  the  meridian,  and  marks  foggy  weather.  (See  p.  487.) 

the  horizon.  At  this  position  the  image  makes  a  shallow 
mark.  As  the  day  wears  on,  the  image  draws  a  line  east- 
wards ;  it  passes  the  meridian,  and  rises  in  the  east.  At 
every  step  on  this  path  the  powers  of  light  vary.  The  forces 
which  do  work  in  the  atmosphere  cannot  do  it  over  again 
below  ;  so  visible  light,  heat,  and  "  actinic"  power,  all  vary  in 
something  like  the  same  proportion.  The  shell  of  air  is 
thinnest  over  head,  and  a  vertical  sun  is  the  most  powerful  of 


ENGINE-TURNING.  485 

all.  The  shell  of  air  is  thickest  and  most  charged  with 
vapours  and  dust  towards  the  horizon,  and  this  sun-dial  proves 
that  the  sun's  burning  power  is  subject  to  the  same  law.* 
Marks  burned  at  about  the  same  distance  from  the  horizon 
are  about  the  same  depth,  and  the  deepest  are  the  nearest  to 
the  plumb-line  and  the  bottom  of  the  bowl — namely,  marks 
made  about  noon  and  the  longest  day.  By  their  chemical 
actino  meter  Bunsen  and  Eoscoe  got  the  following  numbers  : — 
Total  chemical  action  effected  by  the  sun's  rays  from  sun- 
rise to  sunset  at  the  vernal  equinox — 

Melville  Island 1306 

Reykjavik  .....  2324 

Petersburg 2806 

Manchester 3625 

Heidelberg 4136 

Naples 5226 

Cairo 6437 

At  Cairo  the  sun's  rays  at  the  vernal  equinox  are  nearer 
to  the  plumb-line  than  they  are  at  Eeykjavik,  and  so  they  do 
more  work  on  the  ground,  and  less  work  in  the  air. 

In  like  manner,  rays  do  most  work  on  the  dial  when  they 
have  least  work  to  do  in  the  air  through  which  they  pass. 
They  do  less  work  under  a  yellow  haze  of  London  smoke 
than  they  do  in  the  country  near  London,  and  they  do  nothing 
under  a  thick  cloud.  But  when  the  layer  of  clouds  is  passed, 
forms  and  movements  there  prove  that  light  is  accompanied 

*  Fuller  information  on  this  subject  will  be  found  in  works  on  light,  espe- 
cially in  papers  published  by  Professor  Roscoe.  In  the  Photograjjhic  Journal 
(June  15,  1860,  p.  256)  is  an  able  paper,  read  by  Mr.  T.  R.  Wheeler  before  the 
Photographic  Society  of  Blackheath,  in  which  the  researches  of  Bunsen, 
Roscoe,  and  others,  are  referred  to.  See  also  Teneri/e,  illustrated  with  photo- 
stereographs,  by  C.  Piazzi  Smyth,  a  book  which  is  very  amusing  as  well  as 
instructive,  and  expressed  in  few  and  simple  words.  See  also  papers  on  Light, 
by  Sir  J.  Herschel,  in  Good  Words. 


486  ENGINE-TURNING. 

by  mechanical  force,  which  radiates  from  clouds,  and  makes 
them  boil.  (See  chap,  v.) 

The  line  drawn  on  a  clear  day  is  part  of  a  spiral  on  a  sphere. 
Next  morning  the  point  of  the  graver  begins  again  on  the 
west ;  each  noon  finds  the  sun  higher  in  the  sky,  and  the  spoor 
of  the  image  lower  in  the  bowl  ;  each  evening  finds  the  sun 
further  north  on  the  western  horizon,  and  the  image  further 
south  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  hollow  surface  on  which  the 
burning  point  revolves  about  the  fixed  rest ;  and  so  this  engine- 
turning  goes  on  for  six  months  till  the  longest  day.  Then  the 
sun's  image  turns  and  burns  the  other  half  of  the  spiral  design, 
crossing  its  former  path.  Such  lines  could  be  drawn  by 
moving  a  rest  horizontally  while  a  ball  is  turned  about  a  hori- 
zontal axis ;  but  the  best  of  turners  and  rose-engines  and 
tools  could  not  equal  the  accuracy  of  this  work.  One  end  of 
the  lever  is  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  long,  and  the  other 
may  be  an  inch,  or  a  thousandth  part  of  one  ;  it  is  at  the  focus 
of  the  lens. 

The  object  aimed  at  was  gained  when  the  sun  had  made 
a  spoor ;  but  here  is  the  spoor  of  the  sun  on  the  meridian 
of  Campden  Hill  for  the  best  part  of  three  winter  months  in 
1859. 

The  instrument  was  set  on  the  top  of  the  engine-house  at 
the  waterworks  at  Kensington,  200  feet  above  the  sea,  with  a 
clear  horizon,  where  the  sun  could  shine  ;  and  London  smoke 
was  to  the  east.  The  image  of  the  sun  was  at  the  Tropic  of 
Capricorn,  T,  below  the  edge,  H,  at  noon,  and  made  a  shal- 
low mark  on  the  meridian.  It  drew  a  groove  eastwards,  and 
passed  over  the  edge  of  this  particular  plane.  As  the  year 
wore  on,  the  equator  of  the  bowl  rose  ;  and  the  image  cut- 
grooves  daily,  each  of  increasing  depth  when  the  sky  was 
clear.  At  a  certain  time,  it  fell  in  with  a  cloudy  atmosphere, 


ENGINE-TURNING. 


487 


and  then  the  work  done  at  noon  was  less.  Just  before  the 
equator  got  to  the  hot  point  of  the  graving-tool,  the  glass  ball 
was  knocked  over.  It  was  found  resting  on  the  side  of  the 
bowl,  with  deep  grooves  scored  from  a  different  centre  at 


Fit;.  116.   THE  SUN'S  BURNING  POWER  AT  NOON  FOR  ABOUT  THREE  MONTHS. 

wrong  places.  As  this  particular  register  was  spoiled,  a  bit 
of  it  thick  enough  to  make  a  printing  block — "  a  slot " — was 
sawn  out  of  it,  so  as  to  give  a  section  in  the  plane  of  the 
meridian.  The  deepest  groove  is  a  quarter  of  an  inch,  the  rest 
can  be  measured  from  the  outer  circle  described  about  the 
centre  of  the  original  hemispherical  surface.  Of  many  bowls, 
this  is  the  only  one  spoiled  by  such  an  accident ;  the  rest 
are  kept  in  case  they  may  be  wanted. 


488  ENGINE-TURNING. 

Registers  have  been  kept  at  No.  5  Richmond  Terrace,  by 
Mr.  John  C.  Haile,  since  the  Board  of  Health  was  abolished. 
A  shelf  was  built  beside  a  chimney,  and  there  a  new  bowl 
is  placed  twice  a  year.  The  sun  and  the  world  do  the  rest 
of  this  engine-turning.  Some  of  the  results  were  pub- 
lished* as  part  of  a  sanitary  inquiry.  Three  diagrams 
made  from  rubbings  show  that  from  21st  December  1855 
to  21st  June  1856,  the  sun  had  little  burning  power,  though 
radiant  heat  registered  by  a  black  bulb  thermometer  was  con- 
siderable. .  During  the  next  half  year  the  sun  had  more  burn- 
ing power,  and  marked  the  bowl  at  more  places.  During 
the  next  half  year  the  marks  burned  were  the  deepest  of  this 
series.  In  all  these  the  smoke  of  London  to  the  east  is  clearly 
shown.  Twenty  bowls,  registers  for  ten  years,  have  thus  been 
made. 

It  has  been  proved  in  many  ways  that  light  has  an  influ- 
ence on  vegetable  and  animal  life.  Anything  that  impedes 
light  is  hurtful  to  plants  and  animals  ;  therefore  London 
smoke,  which  impedes  light,  does  harm  ;  and  these  observa- 
tions were  placed  at  the  end  of  a  report  which  aimed  at  cur- 
ing the  smoke  nuisance,  amongst  other  evils. 

A  small  town  has  sprung  up  to  the  west  of  a  garden  near 
London,  in  which  roses  flourished.  Smoke  and  houses  have  cut 
off  30  degrees  of  the  torrid  zone  of  sunlight  from  the  clearest 
part  of  the  sky,  and  many  of  the  plants  which  flourished  ten 
years  ago  are  withered  sticks.  A  green  turf  has  suffered  most 
where  the  evening  shadows  fall  first.  Only  fungi  grow  in  dark- 
mines  ;  and  miners  are  a  bleached,  short-lived  race.  Sick  per- 
sons kept  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  in  Kentucky  suffered  in 

*  In  the  report  to  the  General  Board  of  Health  by  commissioners  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  warming  and  ventilation  of  dwellings  (ordered  to  be  printed, 
25th  August  1857). 


RAYS.  489 

the  dark  and  died.  Cave-crickets  and  eyeless  fish,  which 
live  in  that  strange  region  underground,  and  other  cave 
creatures  elsewhere,  are  sluggish.  Plants  turn  towards  light. 
Many  kinds  open  or  close  when  the  sun  passes  a  certain  me- 
ridian, and  of  these  a  botanical  clock  has  been  made.  A 
stick  or  a  tree  split  along  the  grain  splits  along  a  spiral. 
Systems  of  branches  do  not  sprout  above  each  other,  but  are 
ranged  in  spirals.  Fir-cones,  pine-apples,  and  many  flowers, 
are  built  on  this  same  pattern.  Many  creeping  plants  turn 
about  trees.  Honeysuckle  turns  with  the  sun  in  the  northern 
hemisphere. 

In  short,  the  pattern  which  results  from  the  whirling  of  a 
spindle  in  still  water — a  pattern  of  bent  rays — is  the  founda- 
tion of  many  patterns,  which  seem  to  result  from  whirling 
movements  and  the  force  of  sunlight,  which  made  collodion 
whirl. 

The  sun's  radiation  will  cause  rotation,  and  so  produce  cer- 
tain forms  011  the  earth  ;  and  in  the  photographic  picture  of 
the  sun  forms  are  like  those  which  result  from  the  whirl- 
ing of  a  spindle  in  water. 

The  sun's  rays  will  also  model  wax. 

One  plan  devised  to  prove  a  fact  which  scarcely  needs 
proof,  was  an  application  of  the  principle  of  the  sun-dial, 
which  engraved  blocks  in  these  pages.  A  sketch  of  the 
arrangement  is  below  the  picture  of  the  sun  at  the  end. 

The  glass  ball*  in  the  centre  has  a  radius  of  50  mille- 
metres  ;  the  focus  in  air  is  22  millemetres  beyond  the  glass  ; 
and  the  curve  of  a  picture  of  the  sky  formed  by  the  lens  in 
air  has  a  radius  of  72  millemetres.  Half  sunk  in  water,  the 
focal  distance  is  lengthened  to  15  millemetres.  So  the  curve 

*  Made  at  Birmingham,  February  1861,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr. 
James  Chance. 


490  FORMS. 

of  a  picture  formed  under  water  by  the  upper  half  of  this 
spherical  lens  has  a  radius  of  87  millemetres.  At  a  distance 
of  3  inches  and  4-10ths  from  the  centre  of  the  ball  an  image 
of  the  sun  melted  black  sealing-wax  under  water.  The  wax 
took  a  new  shape,  water  circulated  about  it,  and  air-bubbles 
formed  about  the  wax.  At  the  shorter  focal  distance  of  72 
millemetres  the  sun's  image  sank  into  black  wax  like  a  hot 
wire. 

These  movements  and  changes  resulted  from  the  action  of 
rays  which  had  travelled  ninety-five  millions  of  miles,  and 
had  passed  through  the  coldest  regions  in  the  earth's  atmo- 
sphere. 

Do  these  rays  shine  out  of  the  sun  as  the  earth's  light 
shines  out  through  the  earth's  crust ;  or  like  furnace  light 
welling  up  through  freezing  metals  and  stones  ?  Or  do  they 
shine  in  the  sun's  atmosphere  as  the  "  Merry-dancers"  shoot 
and  shine  in  the  northern  sky  ? 

These  are  questions, — answers  can  only  be  reached  by  ex- 
pedients. 

To  see  what  the  sun's  rays  will  do  when  they  act  from 
within  outwards,  two  glass  basins  were  got,  one  with  a 
radius  of  m.  0.072,  the  other  with  a  larger  radius  of  m.  0.087.* 

All  the  circles  which  made  these  spherical  surfaces  were 
drawn  on  cardboard  and  cut  out.  The  outer  ring  rolled  up 
made  a  truncated  cone  for  the  smaller  basin  to  stand  on  in 
the  large  one  ;  the  inner  ring  made  a  similar  stand  for  the 

*  To  Mr.  Green,  the  manager  of  the  glassworks  of  Messrs.  Powell,  in 
London,  I  am  indebted  for  these  and  other  glass  contrivances,  and  for  permis- 
sion to  use  furnaces  in  making  experiments.  A  paper  published  in  the  Liver- 
pool and  Manchester  Plwtograpliic  Journal  in  1858,  contains  an  account  of 
some  of  the  schemes  tried  to  learn  the  effects  of  light  and  heat  on  photo- 
graphic chemicals.  One  result  is,  that  sunlight  will  first  blacken,  and  then 
whiten  a  negative. 


MODELLING.  491 

glass  ball,  and  some  plaster-of-Paris  made  a  stand  for  the 
whole  contrivance  and  fixed  it. 

It  was  placed  in  a  window  with  a  southern  exposure,  and 
the  outer  space  was  filled  with  water. 

By  this  arrangement  an  image  of  the  sun  was  formed 
upon  the  inner  surface  of  a  shell  of  glass,  the  outside  of  which 
was  in  contact  with  a  shell  of  water.  Whenever  the  sun 
shone  the  water  circulated  about  the  sun's  image,  and  bubbles 
of  gas  formed  all  over  the  outside  of  the  glass. 

The  outside  of  the  inner  glass  was  then  coated  with  a 
layer  of  black  sealing-wax  about  a  tenth  of  an  inch  thick, 
and  covered  with  a  second  layer  of  green  sealing-wax  varnish, 
and  with  a  coat  of  gold  paint.  When  this  triple  fusible  crust 
had  hardened  the  glasses  were  placed.  On  March  19, 1862,  the 
sun  only  shone  occasionally,  and  while  the  sun  was  behind  a 
cloud  there  was  no  change ;  but  whenever  the  sun  did  appeal- 
there  was  a  violent  commotion  at  the  inner  surface  of  the 
crust  of  wax.  There  were  miniature  earthquakes,  concussions, 
detonations,  vibrations,  waves,  sudden  movements  which  radi- 
ated from  the  sun's  image  at  all  angles,  from  the  end  of  the 
ray  which  reached  from  the  sun  to  the  sealing-wax — 


* 
On  the  outside,  bubbles  of  some  gas  (probably  air  absorbed 

by  the  water)  formed  all  over  the  surface,  to  which  they 
were  attracted.  And  here  a  whole  subject  for  inquiry  opens, 
for  the  sun's  rays  affect  magnets  and  electrometers.  In  the 
meantime,  rays  within  drove  up  a  dome,  and  so  produced,  first 
a  crater  of  elevation,  then  a  tube.  On  March  21,  the  sun  was 
hidden,  and  the  sealing-wax  mountains  were  at  rest.  The 
24th  was  a  bright  day  with  passing  clouds.  Miniature  earth- 
quakes were  frequent,  and  the  surface  was  raised  up  and 


492  MODELLING. 

pushed  outwards  by  the  rays.  Blisters  became  bubbles  and 
burst ;  and  when  they  did,  water  entered,  and  increased  the 
power,  by  expanding  between  wax  and  glass.  The  outer 
crust  was  chambered,  and  chambers  are  now  seen  through 
the  glass.  The  arrangement  was  left  till  the  10th  of  May 
1862,  and  then  moved,  after  trying  the  effect  of  dry  sand 
instead  of  water.  The  rays  drove  wax  into  sand,  but  because 
the  nearest  centre  of  attraction  was  in  the  earth,  not  in  the 
sun,  and  because  sand  did  not  cool  the  wax  so  fast  as  water 
does,  the  weight  of  the  soft  wax  dragged  it  away,  and  the 
glass  was  laid  bare.  Rays  then  split  the  glass  along  the  path 
of  the  sun's  image  in  this  moving  panorama  of  the  sky. 

The  sun  is  out  of  reach,  and  so  bright  that  human  eyes 
cannot  see  it ;  but  in  this  expedient  a  ray  acted  as  mechanical 
force.  It  broke  glass,  it  pushed  sealing-wax  before  it,  and  so 
pushed  sand  ;  it  moulded  forms,  like  those  which  are  modelled 
by  the  earth's  rays  in  volcanoes ;  by  furnace  rays  at  foundries  ; 
by  gas  lamps  used  to  make  models.  The  sun's  rays  modelled 
forms  like  those  which  a  traveller's  telescope  enables  him  to 
see  on  the  crust  of  the  moon  ;  like  those  which  a  photographic 
eye  saw  in  the  sun.  The  ray  modelled  the  forms  which 
characterise  atmospheric,  aqueous,  and  volcanic  action  ;  up- 
heaval ;  dome  and  flow  ;  tube,  crater,  and  cone  ;  fault  and 
dyke.  It  set  up  circulation  in  sand,  in  wax,  in  water,  and  in 
air ;  in  solid,  fluid,  and  gas ;  and  yet  the  source  of  the  ray 
of  force  was  in  the  sun. 

Rays  from  some  of  the  fixed  stars  act  on  photographic 
chemicals. 

While  engaged  on  drawings  which  were  published  in  the 
report  of  the  Lighthouse  Commission  in  1861,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  construct  a  scale  for  the  field  of  the  camera  used 
to  take  pictures. 


FORM  AND  FORCE.  493 

A  solar  scale  was  made  and  used,  but  the  sun's  image 
covered  too  much  space  for  accurate  measurement.  It 
occurred  to  the  writer  that  stars  near  the  pole  might  draw  a 
scale,  and  the  experiment  was  tried.*  A  small  camera  with  a 
"  quarter-plate  lens"  by  Eoss,  was  aimed  at  the  north  star, 
having  been  carefully  focussed  during  the  day  for  the  sun's 
rays.  A  collodion  plate  was  prepared  with  extra  precautions 
against  dust,  and  after  a  long  exposure  it  was  developed  and 
fixed.  The  lines  drawn,  if  any,  were  too  fine  for  the  purpose, 
so  the  plate  was  stowed  away  in  a  box  for  the  time.  After 
four  years  it  was  backed  with  black  oil-paint,  and  carefully 
examined  with  a  lens.  A  certain  number  of  collodion  comets 
and  stars  were  found  ;  a  certain  region  of  hazy  light  where 
clouds  had  reflected  rays  from  the  sun  or  moon  ;  and  amongst 
these  imperfections  were  two  arcs  of  concentric  circles,  which 
must  have  been  drawn  by  stars.  According  to  a  rudely-made 
paper  scale,  one  circle  is  about  12|,  the  other  10  degrees  from 
the  centre.  All  photographs  taken  on  flat  plates  are  distorted, 
and  in  this  case  the  centre  of  revolution  was  not  in  the  centre 
of  the  field.  The  scale  was  not  a  success  ;  but  the  experiment 
proved  that  rays  from  fixed  stars  act  as  mechanical  force,  and 
move  atoms  of  silver  here  on  earth,  after  travelling  through 
distances  which  human  minds  cannot  realise. 

Amongst  nebulae,  the  most  distant  of  all  visible  objects, 
are  many  forms  which  closely  resemble  curves  drawn  by 
whirling  engines  :  for  example,  the  "  spiral  nebula,  51  m., 
Canum  Venaticorum  ;  and  the  spiral  nebula,  99  m.,  Virginis," 
of  which  pictures  are  given  by  Mr.  Chambers  in  his  "  Hand- 
look"  and  by  an  American  author  in  "  The  Orls  of  Heaven," 

*  "It  has  been  clearly  proved  that  the  light  of  the  stars  does  produce  pho- 
tographic effects."  .  .  .  (On  Light,  by  Sir  J.  Herschel,  Good  Words,  April 
1865.  P.  322.) 


494  FORM  AND  FORCE. 

LondoD,  1858.  Without  a  large  telescope  it  is  impossible  to 
try  the  effect  of  light  from  these  distant  systems ;  but  their 
forms  seem  to  reveal  the  action  of  gravitation,  rotation,  and 
radiation,  at  the  limit  now  reached  by  human  vision. 

If  a  ray  will  do  so  much  at  this  distance,  it  seems  probable 
that  it  shines,  as  earth-light  does,  from  hot  fluids  and  solids 
through  heated  gases  ;  and  if  so,  the  photograph  of  the  sun 
has  the  shape  which  fits  this  answer  to  the  problem  set.* 
Centrifugal  movements,  which  result  from  the  whirling  of  a 
fluid  within  a  solid  shell,  were  illustrated  by  the  expedient 
described  above  (p.  459).  Shapes  caused  by  them  may  be 
seen  wherever  a  fluid  whirls  ;  and  water  whirls  in  every 
stream.  "  Vortices  "  may  be  watched  from  any  bridge. 

Whirlpools  are  deep  pits  surrounded  by  curved  spokes,  and 
the  bend  shows  the  direction  in  which  the  system  revolves. 
That  point  is  illustrated  by  expedients  described  in  this 
chapter.  Whirlpools  in  streams  of  air  moving  on  a  whirling- 
globe  are  circular  storms,  and  part  of  the  solar  system  of 
motion,  for  they  turn  as  the  hands  of  a  watch  turn  when  the 
back  of  it  is  towards  the  north  star,  or  the  face  of  it  f  towards 
the  Southern  Cross  :  they  turn  against  the  shadow  on  a  dial, 
against  the  bright  image  of  the  sun,  which  travels  in  the  centre 
of  the  shadow  of  a  glass  ball  set  in  a  bowl.  They  turn 

*  "  It  has  been  held  that  as  our  trade- winds  originate  in  a  greater  influx  of 
heat  from  without  on  and  near  the  equator  than  at  the  poles,  combined  with 
the  earth's  rotation  on  its  axis,  so  the  maculiferous  belts  of  the  sun  may  owe 
their  origin  to  a  greater  equatorial  efflux  of  heat,  combined  with  the  axial  ro- 
tation of  that  luminary."— Sir  J.  Herschel,  Good  Words,  April  1864.  P.  280. 

+  "  At  the  south  pole  the  winds  come  from  the  north-west,  and  consequently 
there  they  revolve  about  it  with  the  hands  of  a  watch."  (Quoted  from  Maury's 
Sailing  Directions,  on  p.  23,  Abstracts  of  Meteorological  Observations,  etc., 
edited  by  Lieut. -Col.  H.  James,  R.E.  London  1855.  Blue  Book.) 

"  The  wind  approaches  the  North  Pole  by  a  series  of  spirals  from  the  south- 
west .  .  .  and  consequently  a  whirl  ought  to  be  created  thereby,  in  which 


WHIRLING  STORMS.  495 

"  widersliins,"  and  the  old  engraver  who  drew  the  symbol  of 
the  sun  (Fig.  4,  vol.  i.)  gave  the  right  curve. 

A  watch  is  a  northern  contrivance,  and  probably  it  was 
made  in  imitation  of  a  dial,  for  it  was  meant  to  measure  time 
and  to  be  looked  at  from  above.  The  hands  move  as  the 
shadow  moves  on  the  dial-plate.  In  the  southern  hemisphere 
the  hands  of  a  watch  move  with  the  storm,  because  the  watch 
face  is  turned  the  other  way,  and  the  poles  of  it  are  reversed 
at  the  antipodes.  By  reversing  the  poles  of  a  watch  in  the 
northern  hemisphere  so  as  to  make  the  face  of  it  aim  at  the 
south  pole  of  the  sky,  apparent  movement  is  converted  into 
real  movement :  watch-hands  and  whirlwinds  then  turn  one 
way.  The  hands  turn  about  the  spindle  as  the  earth  turns 
about  its  axis  and  about  the  axis  of  the  sun,  as  satellites  re- 
volve about  their  central  bodies,  as  the  storms  whirl  on  their 
axes  and  move  upon  the  whirling  surface  of  the  world.  The 
large  engine  and  the  little  one,  hour  hands  and  seconds  hands, 
all  turn  one  way. 

The  whirling  sun  has  an  atmosphere,  and  shapes  in  this 
photograph  are  like  diagrams  laid  down  by  philosophers  on 
maps,  after  gathering  thousands  of  facts  about  great  whirling 
storms.  In  this  planet  a  ball  with  a  solid  crust  is  spinning, 
and  water  and  air  about  the  crust  spin  with  it,  and  swing  in 
streams  from  and  towards  the  axis,  crossing  the  edges  of  re- 
volving discs  diagonally  in  both  hemispheres.  The  principle 

the  ascending  column  of  air  revolves  from  right  to  left,  or  against  the  hands 
of  a  watch."  (P.  22.) 

"It  is  a  singular  coincidence  between  these  two  facts  thus  deduced  and 
other  facts  which  have  been  observed,  and  which  have  been  set  forth  by  Redfield, 
Reid,  Piddington,  and  others— viz.,  that  all  rotatory  storms  in  the  northern 
hemisphere  revolve  as  do  the  whirlwinds  about  the  North  Pole,  viz.,  from  right 
to  left ;  and  that  all  circular  gales  in  the  southern  hemisphere  revolve  in  the 
opposite  direction,  as  does  the  whirl  about  the  South  Pole."  (P.  23.) 


496  PATTERNS. 

of  the  movement  in  ocean  and  atmosphere  is  the  same  as  in 
water  set  in  motion  by  a  whirling  spindle.  The  patterns  drawn 
ought  to  be  alike,  and  they  are.  Forms  laid  down  on  globes  ; 
mountains  and  coasts,  and  glens  and  fjords  ;  and  ice-grooves  on 
hill-tops — tool-marks  of  denuding  engines — agree  in  direction. 

On  any  sphere  revolving,  as  the  earth  revolves,  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  its  own,  the  pattern  outside  ought  to  be  founded  on 
spirals,  crossing  each  other  like  the  pattern  on  the  rind  of  a  pine- 
apple, or  on  the  heart  of  a  sunflower,  or  on  a  daisy.  It  ought 
to  be  a  system  of  curved  cross-hatching,  like  engine-turning  on 
the  case  of  a  watch.  That  is  the  pattern  which  Maury  drew  in 
his  diagram  of  the  winds  after  comparing  and  collating  thou- 
sands of  meteorological  observations.  It  is  the  pattern  which 
the  photographic  eye  saw  on  the  sun. 

Commonly  the  sun's  atmosphere  seems  to  be  wrapped 
about  the  ball  in  broad  circular  bands.  On  one  occasion  the 
bands  were  broken  up  and  scattered,  as  by  a  storm.  The 
bands  are  seen  at  the  eastern  limb  about  the  equator  ;  and 
thence  they  spread  towards  the  poles,  in  long  curved  streams, 
like  cirrus  clouds  and  mackerel  sky  overhead.  The  light 
formed  long  ovals  and  rings,  like  whirlpools  and  systems  of 
bent  waves  upon  water  eddying  under  a  bridge,  or  made  to 
whirl  in  a  tray  by  spinning  a  top.  The  actual  dimensions  of 
the  shapes  figured  are  of  no  account ;  their  proportion  to  the 
rest  of  the  disc  is  the  main  point.  They  are  reduced  by  the 
lens,  and  drawn  to  scale  ;  and  they  cover  space  in  proportion 
to  spaces  traversed  by  whirling  hurricanes  and  typhoons,  and 
laid  down  on  a  chart  in  the  blue-book  quoted  above.  Eotating 
storms  travel  over  the  whole  world. 

Electric  storms,  disturbances  in  currents  which  affect 
magnets,  are  common,  and  it  has  been  suspected  that  their 
occurrence  and  the  appearance  of  solar  spots  have  some  re- 


SUN  PICTURES.  497 

latioii  to  each  other.  A  series  of  photographs,  kept  with  a 
register  of  magnetic  and  other  observations,  may  settle 
whether  certain  forms  on  the  sun's  disc  indicate  storms  in 
the  sun's  atmosphere,  which  are  felt  on  the  earth  as  electric 
storms.  Mr.  Chambers  says — 

"  We  may  here  take  occasion  to  advert  to  a  very  remarkable  pheno- 
menon seen  on  September  1,  1859,  by  two  English  observers,  whilst 
engaged  in  scrutinising  the  sun.  A  very  fine  group  of  spots  was  visible 
at  the  time,  and  suddenly,  at  1 1  h.  18  m.,  two  patches  of  intensely  bright 
white  light  were  seen  to  break  out  in  front  of  the  spots.  It  was  at  first 
thought  to  be  due  to  a  fracture  of  the  screen  attached  to  the  object- 
glass  of  the  telescope ;  but  such  was  not  the  case.  The  patches  of  light 
were  evidently  connected  with  the  sun  itself ;  they  remained  visible  for 
about  five  minutes,  during  which  time  they  traversed  a  space  of  about 
35,000  miles.  The  brilliancy  of  the  light  was  dazzling  in  the  extreme  ; 
but  the  most  noteworthy  circumstance  was  the  marked  disturbance 
which  (as  was  afterwards  found)  took  place  in  the  magnetic  instruments 
at  the  Kew  Observatory  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  in  question, 
followed  about  sixteen  hours  afterwards  by  a  great  magnetic  storm." — 
(G.  F.  Chambers,  Handbook  of  Astronomy.  London  1861.  P.  6.) 

Amongst  eminent  men  who  have  turned  their  attention  to 
telescopic  drawing  and  photography,  Mr.  Nasmyth's  name  is 
conspicuous.  He  holds  that  the  present  condition  of  planets 
may  throw  light  upon  the  former  condition  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Chambers  only  states  facts  ;  he  says,  p.  9 — 

"  It  has  been  thought  that  the  prevalence  of  large  masses  of  spots 
might  give  rise  to  a  depression  in  the  temperature  for  the  time  being, 
and  thus  affect  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  Modern  observation,  however, 
would  lead  us  to  infer  that  the  contrary  was  rather  the  case,  an  elevation 
of  temperature  being  contemporaneous  with  the  prevalence  of  spots." 

These  shapes  may  indicate  changes  in  a  crust  now  forming 
about  a  fluid,  and  this  observation  supports  the  notion  that 
the  sun's  rays  axe  like  those  which  shine  through  the  crust  of 
the  earth. 

VOL.  n.  2  K 


498  FORCE  AND  FORM. 

Bright  streaks  and  spots  of  light  often  break  out  where 
dark  spots  have  disappeared.  Sir  W.  Herschel,  on  December 
27,  1799,  saw  a  streak  of  light  which  was  246",  or  77,000 
miles  in  length  (Chambers,  p.  9). 

The  shapes  of  dark  spots  projected  on  paper  with  a  good 
astronomical  telescope  are  suggestive  of  forms  which  result 
from  ebullition  in  metals,  and  may  indicate  the  position  of 
solid  projections  rising  through  heated  fluids  and  gases.  The 
darkest  spots  are  still  so  brilliant  as  to  affect  photographic 
plates  rapidly. 

When  a  powerful  current  of  electricity  passes  through 
certain  materials,  the  form  is  changed,  and  the  current  is 
changed  into  light  and  force  ;  a  wire  is  broken  up,  fused, 
and  the  drops  are  scattered  as  by  an  explosion.  They  move 
off  and  radiate  from  the  current. 

A  bell-wire  fused  by  lightning  spreads  on  the  wall  in 
radiating  lines  ;  a  tree  is  split  by  lightning  ;  when  lightning 
falls  in  a  bed  of  sand,  it  sometimes  fuses  the  sand  into  long, 
tapering,  branching,  radiating  tubes.  Of  these,  specimens  are 
preserved  at  the  British  Museum  under  the  name  of  Fulgurites. 
If  the  light  of  the  sun  be  electric  light,  that  form  of  light  is 
accompanied  by  mechanical  force,  and  it  radiates  in  the  same 
direction  as  visible  light  and  sensible  heat,  and  actinic  rays, 
which  affect  chemicals. 

In  these  last  chapters  force  has  been  hunted  through 
engines  of  many  kinds.  If  the  spoor  has  been  truly  followed, 
light  is  a  power  in  every  engine  of  human  construction,  which 
turns  out  work,  for  the  power  which  winds  a  clock  moves  the 
hands.  The  sun's  rays  help  to  move  air  and  evaporate  water, 
so  they  help  to  turn  all  mills  ;  light  of  some  kind  is  at  the 
source  of  power  in  steam-engines  ;  plants  will  not  grow  with*- 
out  light ;  animals  cannot  work  without  food ;  and  the  most 


RAYS.  499 

carnivorous  of  creatures  only  extracts  power  out  of  fuel 
gathered  by  his  prey.  A  horse  in  a  mill  is  but  a  link  in  a 
chain,  and  rays  also  are  links  in  it. 

The  sun's  rays  may  be  set  to  work  directly  ;  they  may  be 
set  to  wind  up  a  clock. 

Iron  floats  in  mercury,  mercury  expands  when  the  sun 
shines  upon  the  vessel  which  holds  it,  and  shrinks  when  the 
sun  is  hid.  A  column  of  mercury  in  an  open  iron  tube  with 
a  bulb  will  lift  an  iron  weight  when  the  sun  shines,  and  drop 
it  when  the  shadow  comes ;  a  very  small  amount  of  ingenuity 
will  apply  the  power  to  a  piston,  a  lever,  an  axle,  or  a  train  of 
wheels ;  an  index  and  a  needle  would  register  the  force  ap- 
plied, and  might  express  it  in  "foot  pounds,"  for  the  force  lifts 
a  weight.* 

The  sun's  rays  evaporate  fluids  ;  vapour  of  ether  may  be 
passed  through  a  gas  meter,  and  the  index  will  express  the 
power  in  cubic  feet.f  The  sun's  rays  decompose  certain  fluids, 
and  make  certain  gases  combine.  Bunsen  and  Koscoe  applied 
that  power  to  measure  chemical  force  in  light. 

The  hand  which  winds  a  clock  moves  the  train  of  wheels  ; 
the  force  which  causes  motion,  directly  or  indirectly,  is  mechani- 
cal force  ;  and  the  sun's  rays  have  been  set  to  move  engines. 

The  works  of  philosophers  contain  a  precious  essence  ; 
they  contain  truths  extracted  from  fruit  and  flowers,  grain  and 
chaff,  gathered  by  thousands  of  labourers  in  a  boundless  field 
of  inquiry.  This  book  only  contains  the  gatherings  of  one 
wandering  craftsman  ;  but  he  has  sought  for  truth,  and  haply 
he  may  have  found  some  grains  to  add  to  the  common  stock. 

*  For  an  explanation  of  modern  views  on  the  subject  of  heat  as  a  mode  of 
motion,  see  writings  by  Professor  Joule  of  Manchester,  and  articles  in  the 
North  British  Review,  February  and  May  1864. 

t  Neither  of  these  contrivances  has  yet  been  made  ;  one  or  other  may  be 
set  to  work  before  this  book  is  published. 


500  RAYS. 

One  attempt  has  been  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  form, 
to  watch  work  in  progress,  so  as  to  learn  to  distinguish  the 
tool-marks  of  natural  engines.  If  the  sun's  rays  work  in  the 
sun  as  they  do  on  earth,  then  forms  in  the  sun  ought  to  be  a 
legible  index.  Read  by  this  alphabet  of  form,  rudely  made 
with  rough  expedients,  they  seem  to  mean — 

That  laws  of  force,  which  cause  and  regulate  movements  in 
gases,  fluids,  and  solids,  in  the  whirling  earth,  which  is  only 
one  of  many  satellites  in  one  of  many  systems,  are  good  law 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  whirling  sun,  which  is  only  one  of 
many  sources  of  light  and  of  ray-force. 

But  if  so,  wherever  light  shines  there  force  may  radiate, 
though  the  eye  is  the  only  organ  which  feels  the  force. 

Even  the  shapes  of  nebulae  may  betray  mechanical  force 
in  light. 

Thus  far  this  book  is  an  attempt  to  argue  through  circles : 
— an  attempt  to  gain  a  point  by  following  a  ray;  and  the 
next  point  by  following  another.  If  the  attempt  be  judged 
and  condemned,  the  writer  can  only  plead  that  he  has  done 
his  best ;  if  acquitted  of  presumption,  he  will  be  content. 
He  hopes  to  be  forgiven  for  thinking  for  himself.  Many 
spokes  have  been  tried,  many  a  path  trodden  ;  but  all  paths 
tried  have  ended  at  one  spot.  By  searching  backwards  from 
work  done,  men  reach  power  through  engines  ;  by  travelling 
far  enough  they  seem  always  to  reach  a  source  of  light.  But 
that  is  only  one  centre  in  an  endless  train  of  wheels.  The 
way  to  see  further  is  forwards  :  to  use  light,  and  try  to  see  if 
there  be  more  wheels,  engines,  and  powers  between  work  done 
and  the  will  of  Him  who  made  them  all  and  created  Light. 


Fio.  117.     FKOM  A  PHOTOGRAPH  OF  THE  SUN. 

Taken  on  or  about  March  22,  1S59,  when  a  number  of  spots  were  visible.     On  the  llth 
March  the  south  pole  of  the  sun  is  best  seen,  according  to  Sir  J.  Herschel. 


INDEX. 


ABBEY  CRAIO,  Stirling,  108 

Aberystwith,  precipice  at,  185;  how  it  would 
be  affected  by  a  sinking  of  land,  187 

Achill  Island,  48;  Achill  Head,  view  of,  (it 

Achnasheen,  gravel  terraces  and  other  ice- 
marks,  148,  152 

Actinometer(chemical)of  Bunsen  and  Roseoe, 
action  shown  by,  485 

Actinism  from  furnace  fire,  442 

Activity  of  force,  hammering  of  iron,  468 

Aerosiderites,  their  composition,  383 

Africa,  snowy  mountains  in,  253 

Agassiz,  his  theory  of  a  glacier  once  existing 
from  the  North  Pole  to  Georgia,  239,  247 

Aiijsa  meteorite  in  Smithsonian  Institute,  385 

Air,  rolling  of,  275  ;  marks  it  makes  in  pack- 
ing solids,  297  ;  its  density  and  weight 
when  moved,  440  ;  waves  of,  on  a  hot  day, 
474 

Air-bubb'e,  what  it  shows,  389 

Air-pump,  in  Exhibition,  439 

Airilrie,  arctic  shells  at,  95 

Allan  Water,  nature  of  country,  109 

Alleghanics,  foreign  boulders  among,  290 

Alps,  glacier  action  on  rocks  in,  20(5 

Alteration  of  fossils  in  old  sedimentary  rocks, 
how  geologists  might  explain  the  mystery, 
326,  328 

America  (North),  direction  of  ice-marks  in, 
239 ;  submerged  during  part  of  glacial  period, 
254  ;  newer  rocks  to  the  south,  the  older  to 
the  north,  330 

Ancient  sea-margins  of  Highland  Glens,  126 

Anglers  study  wave-forms,  271 

Anglesea  ice-ground,  20 ;  as  observed  from 
Ormes  Head,  194  ;  anciently  under  sea,  207; 
its  geological  structure,  208  ;  strise  in,  made 
by  floating  ice,  209 

Anglo-Saxon  (steamer),  loss  of,  in  Newfound- 
land, 226,  227 

Animal  life,  influence  of  light  on,  488,  489 

Animals,  traditions  about  existence  of,  191 ; 
formerly  existing  in  British  islands,  186 

Antrim  flints  in  south  of  Ireland,  19;  pieces 
of  chalk  found  in  drift,  61 

Anvil,  a  large  meteorite  long  used  as  one,  386 


Appalachian  chain,  long  wrinkles  and  folds  in, 
332,  333 

Applecruss  hills,  148 

Aracul,  whin- dykes  on,  55;  quartz  rock  on 
highest  peak,  56 

Archipelago,  I  reland  once  an,  42,  52,  59 

Arctic  current  and  marks  of  sea-ice  on  hills  of 
West  Ross-shire,  146  ;  on  west  side  of  At- 
lantic, 159  ;  action  of,  in  Wales,  193  ;  traces 
of,  in  forming  coast-line  of  Cardigan  Bay, 
202  ;  along  course  of  Grand  Trunk  Railway, 
290 

Arctic  regions,  animals  of  which  may  yet  be 
fossilised,  335 

Arctic  sea  shells  on  Snowdon,  203  ;  shell  im- 
plies cold  water,  319 

Ardpatrick,  ice-marks  at,  75 

Argyll  (Duke  of)  on  sea-ice  marks  in  West 
Highlands,  86 

Arran,  granite  mountains  of,  05 ;  observations 
on  rocks  of,  66-71 

Arsenic  and  other  metals  swept  out  of  chimney 
of  lead  furnace,  341 

Arthur's  Seat,  ice-marks  on,  100 

Arthur  (King),  days  of,  190,  192 

Asia  (Central),  on  glaciers  dwindling  away 
there,  253 

Atlantic  waves  seen  from  Portland  Island,  278 

Atmosphere  absorbs  mechanical  force  of  rays 
of  sun,  472  ;  of  gun,  495  ;  bands  on,  496 

Attraction  overcome  by  repulsion,  instance  of, 
344 

Auchterarder,  view  of  hills  from,  109 

Aurora  borealis,  pattern  on  sun  somewhat  re- 
sembling, 475 

Autumn-day  among  hills  of  West  Ross-shire, 
142 

Avalon,  rocks  in,  concealed  by  bogs  and 
forests,  240 

Aviemore,  glacial  drift  at,  128 

Ayre  (Point  of),  Isle  of  Man,  169 

BADSTUA,  Iceland,  419 
'  Baily's  beads'  in  sun,  479 
Bala  Hill  near  Forfar,  113 
Ballyshannon,  salmon  stream,  fossils,  53 


504 


INDEX. 


Balmoral,  glacier  tracks  at,  alluded  to,  128 

Baltic  (Arctic)  current,  supposed  course  of, 
18 ;  theory  has  gained  strength,  167  ;  theory, 
207  ;  theory,  facts  to  support,  218 ;  how  it 
might  wash  the  base  of  the  Alps,  252 

Baltic,  illustration  of  formation  of  boulders 
in  islands  of,  308 

Bannockburu  (battle  of)  fought  on  ancient 
sea-bottom,  108 

Barkas  (T.  P.)  summary  of  speculations  on 
structure  of  earth  in  'Newcastle  Daily 
Journal,'  368 

Bamespool  at  Eton,  study  of  waves  on  pool, 
276,  277 

Basle,  change  of  level  that  would  sink,  255 

Bath,  hot  springs  at,  220 

Bath-house,  Oxhver,  tradition  of  its  bursting 
up,  418  ;  bath-room,  419 

Bay-ice  grinds  rock,  237 

Beach  a  tool-mark,  291,  277;  the  most  cha- 
racteristic wave-mark,  285 ;  description  of 
one,  287;  at  Breidfjord  and  Snsefell,  Ice- 
land, 288 

Beaches  (ancient),  Myra  Syssla,  289 

Bear  Island,  temperauire  of,  216 

Bears  (cave)  found  in  British  Islands,  192 

Beddgelert,  ice-marks,  209 

Beds  (formation  of)  illustrated,  309 

Beech  trees  and  forests  in  Denmark,  215 

Behring's  Straits,  if  wider,  how  they  would 
affect  China,  253  ;  on  difference  of  vegeta- 
tion on  two  sides,  254 

Beinn-araidh-char,  a  mountain  in  W.  Ross- 
shire,  138 

Bein  Bhreac,  ice-marks  on,  84,  85  ;  panoramic 
view  from,  86  ;  probable  origin  of  perched 
blocks  on,  120 

Beinn  Copach,  or  the  Cobbler,  82 

Beinn-a-Ghuis,  marks  on,  139  ;  sea  once  at  its 
foot,  140 

Beinn  Mhonaidh,  141 ;  glens  around,  142 

Beinn-na-Muic  Dhuibe,  123 

Belfast,  carried  blocks  near,  61 

Belleisle,  235  ;  (Straits  of)  direction  of  current, 
242 

Ben  Alder  and  Ben  Nevis,  124 

Ben  Bhanrigh,  Arran,  ice-marks  near,  68 

Ben  Cruachan,  124 

Ben  Eith,  in  W.  Ross-shire,  138 

Benknock,  Islay,  two  round  lakes  at,  408 

Ben  Lawers,  124 

Ben  Lomond,  perched  boulders  on,  79 

Bergen,  clouds  and  rainfall  at,  258;  glaciers 
of,  hold  clouds,  259 

Bettws-y-Coed,  traces  of  ancient  glacier,  199 

Bianastle  (Glen),  quartz  rock  at  head  of,  143 

Bidston  Hill,  glaciated  rocks  at,  181 

Binny  Craig,  ice-marks  at,  99 

Birch  in  Danish  peat  bogs,  215  ;  temperature 
they  grow  in,  216 

Biscay  (Bay  of),  waves  from,  279 

Black  Isle  of  Cromarty,  drift  on,  133 

Blackrock,  marks  of  ice  motion,  21 

Blakeston  Tor,  220-221 

Blast  of  hot  air  in  iron  furnaces,  361 

Block  of  mica-schist  on  Pentlands,  98 ;  (a 
large  one)  with  a  bent  tree  beside  it,  152, 167 

Blocks  of  granite  at  Eaton,  ice-grooved  and 
polished,  182 

Bloodstone,  n  glassy  volcanic  mineral,  325 


Blower  of  coal  gas,  3S2 

Boatmen  study  wave-forms,  271 

Boats,  anchors,  etc.,  found  in  Carse  of  Cowrie, 
111 

Boiling  a  root,  steam-power  in,  265  ;  living 
organisms  cannot  long  survive,  319  ;  water; 
sorts  different  kinds  of  materials  in  strata, 
394  ;  and  stewing  sounds  of  Icelandic 
springs,  404 

Bolands  Hofvdi,  Iceland,  288 

Bolide  of  1864,  a  meteorite,  its  course,  384 

Bonavista  Bay,  Newfoundland,  raised  beach 
at,  289 

Bonn,  on  the  Rhine,  seven  hills  are  ancient 
volcanic  mounds,  428 

Borth,  beach  at,  212  ;  curious  beach  at,  287 

Bottom  of  the  sea,  how  to  study  it,  271 

Boulder  clay,  Cader  Idris,  etc.,  213 

Boulder  of  gneiss  on  Ben  Wyvis,  154  ;  a  small 
grooved  porphyry  one  at  Eaton,  182 

Boulders  of  the  Drift,  12  ;  (large  rounded)  of 
pink  granite  near  Dingwall,  152  ;  sea-worn, 
their  shape  and  surface,  170  ;  in  the  Isle  of 
Man,  172,  173  ;  a  Cheshire  village  sage's  ac- 
count of  the  growth  of,  182  ;  in  Cheshire 
may  have  come  from  Scandinavia,  183 ; 
polishing  rocks  in  Anglesea,  208  ;  that  could 
not  have  been  transported  by  local  glaciers, 
255 ;  (glaciated)  near  Llanberis,  207 ;  (glaci- 
ated) in  the  United  States,  246  ;  (glaciated) 
on  ancient  terrace  at  Gorham,  290 

Boxwood  burnt  by  sun's  rays,  481 

Brada  Head,  Isle  of  Man,  cliffs  at,  169 ; 
boulders  at,  171 ;  cliff  with  curved  coloured 
bands,  331 

Bradshaw's  '  Railway  Guide'  referred  to,  181 

Brae-Moray,  Knock  of,  a  hill,  130,  154 

Breeze  on  a  lake  observed,  275,  276 

Breidfjord,  beaches  of  lava  boulders  at,  287 

Brentor  near  Tavistock,  shape,  222 

Bricks  and  clay,  325 

Brine-springs  at  Northwich,  183 

British  Museum,  meteorite  in,  385 

Brittany,  tradition  of  the  overwhelming  of  a 
city  in,  188;  how  its  coast-line  would  be 
affected  by  a  rise  of  the  land,  187  ;  tradition 
about,  188 

Brockville  striae,  245 

Brongniart  on  the  French  meteorite  of  1864, 
384 

Bronze  weapons  in  Danish  peat-bogs,  215 

Brunar,  country  between  and  the  Geysers,  432 

Bryce  (Dr.), '  Geology  in  Clydesdale  and  Arran' 
quoted,  71 

Bryson(Mr.  Alex.)  discovers  ledge  in  geyser 
tube,  417  ;  his  experiments  011  taking  the 
temperature,  418 

Buch  (Von.),  on  Monte  Somma,  434 

Buffalo  striae,  245 

Bulls,  stone  of  the,  its  real  and  mythical 
origins,  79 

Bunsen,  researches  with  actinometer,  485 

Bwlch-llyn-Dach,  ice  traces  at,  210 

CADER  IDRIS,  ice-marks  on,  202  ;  tradition  of  a 

giant,  210 
Cairngorm,  123 

Cairo,  action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485 
Caithness,  Ord  of,  134  ;  Caithness  a  flat  land 

with  a  soil  of  drift,  134 


INDEX. 


505 


Caledonian  Canal  (glen  holding),  once  a  sea- 
strait,  132 

Calton  Hill,  ice-marks  on,  101 

Canal,  roads,  railways,  and  rivers,  now  follow 
the  path  of  an  ancient  ocean  current,  99 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  icebergs  off,  251 

Campbelton,  surface  destroyed  by  the  sea,  72 

Camphor  burning,  experiment  with,  461 

Canada, '  Geological  Survey  of  Canada'  referred 
to,  164 ;  ice-marks,  242 

Capel  Cureg,  ice-ground  rocks  at,  204 

Carbon  points,  electric  current  between,  pro- 
ducing light,  441 

Cardigan  Bay,  how  apparently  formed,  185, 
186 ;  how  it  would  be  affected  by  rise  of 
land,  1ST  ;  tradition  of  the  land  at  its  bottom 
hairing  been  sunk,  188 

Carned  Llewellyn,  199 

Carpenter's  work  judged  by  his  chips,  268 

Carlisle,  drift  and  ice-marks  between  Berwick 
and  Carlisle,  174 

Carron  Ironworks,  380,  382 

Carse  of  Gowrie  at  a  late  period  nnder  water, 
111,  112;  of  Stirling,  marine  objects  found 
in,  108 

Cascade,  an  artificial  one  in  Exhibition,  how 
kept  up,  440 

Casting  of  iron,  469 

Castlebar,  rock-surfaces,  50 

Castletown  (Isle  of  Man),  country  about, 
172 

Casts  of  ironstone  beds  in  sandstone,  302 

Catania  and  the  bursting  out  of  Mount  Etna, 
228  ;  road  to,  blocked  up  by  lava,  371 

Cath-Mihic-Dhuil,  glens  which  held  glaciers, 
69 

Catskill  range,  ice-marks,  243 

Causality,  a  mental  quality,  drove  visitors  in 
1851  and  1862  to  the  department  of  machin- 
ery in  Great  Exhibition,  438 

Cavehill  near  Belfast,  chalk  section,  62 

Caverns,  Icelandic,  399 

Ceantire,  ice-marks,  72-77  ;  once  perhaps  three 
islands,  76 

Celtic  traditions,  186,  187  ;  about  submerged 
lands,  190  ;  abont  large  animals,  192 

Centrifugal  force  illustrated  by  a  trundling 
mop,  445  ;  pump  lifting  water,  440 

Chalk  cliffs  capped  with  whin  between  Cushen- 
dal  and  Glenarm,  60 ;  glens  of  south  Eng- 
land, alluvial  flats  in,  223  ;  at  Stockbridge, 
how  covered,  225 

Chambers  in  lava,  355;  in  ice,  etc.,  356;  in 
crust  and  tube  communication,  41 0 ;  (buried ) 
in  sedimentary  rocks,  422  ;  in  lava  streams, 
425 

Chambers  (George  F.)  'A  Handbook  of  As- 
tronomy,' quoted  for  direction  of  planets, 
466,  467  ;  for  portraits  of  planets,  475  ;  re- 
ferred to,  494  ;  quoted,  497 

Chambers  (Robert)  on  ice-grooves  on  Nor- 
wegian watershed,  156 ;  '  Ancient  Sea-Mar- 
gins in  British  Islands '  referred  to,  292 

Champlain  (Lake),  whale-bones  in  drift,  243 

Cheshire,  character  cf  country,  181 ;  boulders, 
possible  origin  of,  183 

Chesil  Bank,  Portland,  278,  287 

Chimneys  of  lead-smelting  furnaces,  valuable 
metals  found  in,  341 

China  made  by  Minton  from  glacial  chips,  181 ; 


manufacture,  324 ;  and  clay,  temperature, 
326 

Chips  (rock)  form  sedimentary  rocks  270 

Chudleigh  (Cape),  Labrador,  235 

Cioch  Mor,  a  conical  hill,  153,  154 

Circulation  of  water  in  river  eddies,  230  231  • 
of  ocean,  232 

Cisterns  on  Etna  and  the  lava,  372 

Clach-an-Turaman,  a  perched  block,  80 

Clandeboye,  hill  at,  with  ice-marks,  61 

Clays,  working  of,  in  potteries,  324  ;  tempera- 
ture, and  mode  of  making  into  bricks,  325 ; 

Clay-maps  in  shallow  pools  for  the  student  of 
action  of  currents,  etc.,  232 

Clay-slate,  ice-7iiarks  on,  14 

Clew  Bay,  drift  at,  48 

Climate,  circumstances  that  would  change 
climate  of  northern  regions,  156  ;  of  England 
once  cold,  178  ;  change  of,  in  Denmark  in 
human  period,  216;  of  Britain  and  Canada 
in  1863-4,  compared  with  that  of  Labrador, 
238  ;  (ancient)  of  Yorkshire,  282  ;  inference 
of  average,  319 

Cloch  Corril,  great  block  at,  39  ;  legend  about, 
40 

Clock,  modern,  264 

Clouds  over  Achill  Island,  49  ;  march  of,  over 
Atlantic,  55  ;  would  be  few  if  ocean  were  all 
frozen,  258 ;  affect  passage  and  work  of  sun's 
rays,  485 

Clyde,  mud  of,  93  ;  change  of  level  that  would 
sink,  255  ;  (Firth  of)  mud-banks  of,  imitated 
in  Lanarkshire  mines,  302 

Cnoc-a-Bhlaka,  Ireland,  a  museum  of  trans- 
ported stones,  21  ;  na-Carrig,  or  the  Hill  of 
Stones,  Ireland,  21 ;  Mordan,  perched  block 
on,  29  ;  marks  of  ice  on,  30 ;  Ourid,  Conne- 
mara,  ice-marks  and  boulders,  26,  27 

Coal-beds  in  Wales,  abrasion  of,  185 

Coals  at  Stoke,  depth  they  are  obtained  from, 
181 

Coal  vegetation  of  Yorkshire,  282;  heat  of 
burning  coals  is  solar  heat  stored  up  by 
plants,  338 

Cobbler,  various  names  of  that  hill,  82 

Coed  Mawr,  Wales,  boulders  on,  198 ;  marks 
on,  200 

Col  at  Llanberis,  once  a  deep  strait,  etc.,  206 ; 
a  « tarbert,'  207 

Col  de  Geant,  snow-shed,  206 

Coldness  of  British  and  French  climates  in 
former  ages,  186 

Cold  period  in  Scotland,  the  time  of,  137 ; 
(intense)  once  prevalent  in  all  high  latitudes 
and  at  elevated  regions  simultaneously, 
Prof.  Ramsay's  theory,  147  ;  period  (last)  in 
Ireland  and  Scotland,  165 ;  not  easily  driven 
out  of  ground  long  possessed  by  it,  252  ; 
(external)  indicated  by  snow,  327 

Coll,  perched  blocks,  161  ;  curve  of  Arctic 
Current,  163 

Collier's  observation  on  freezing  of  water  in 
Great  Exhibition,  439 

Collodion,  experiments  with,  461,  462,  463 

Colour  (change  of)  in  cooling  of  molten  silver, 
349 

Coltness,  travelled  boulders  at,  97 

'  Con,'  an  elk  or  bird,  192 

Conan  Bridge,  floats  of  white  froth  observed 
from,  151 


506 


INDEX. 


Conception  Bay,  strite  and  drift,  241 ;  New- 
foundland, raised  beach  at,  289 

Cone  of  eruption  in  crater  of  Vesuvius,  402, 
403 ;  one  at  Hraundal  described,  370 ;  in 
Iceland,  426,  427  ;  their  longest  slope,  453 

Connemara,  ice-grooves  on  hills  of,  21-37  ; 
legends  of,  41  ;  peasants  recite  poems  which 
must  have  been  composed  when  the  country 
was  tenanted  by  stags  and  boars,  34 

Constance  (Lake  of),  change  of  level  that 
would  sink,  255 

Contin  Inn,  rolled  drift,  140,  152 

Convergence  of  main  hollows  and  passes  cross- 
ing Scotland  upon  Nass  of  Norway  and  the 
Skagerrak,  134 

Converging  mechanical  forces,  233 

Conway,  hills  and  glens,  20 

Conway  Castle,  waves  and  wave-marks  ob- 
served from,  195  ;  valley  of,  197  ;  glacier 
once  there,  198 

Cook  (Capt.),  on  very  deep  snow  found  in 
latitude  of  N.  Scotland,  250 ;  perpetual 
snow-line  at  sea  level  in  lat.  54°  8. ,  250 

Cooking  at  a  boiling  stream  in  Iceland,  397 

Copper-mine  of  Fahlun,  340 

Copying  rock-surfaces  and  ice-marks,  15 

Cornwall,  Celtic  traditions  recording  change 
of  sea-level,  187 

Corrie  Bhreacan  whirlpool,  89 

Corrie  Uisge  (Loch),  marks  of  ice,  161 

Corril,  legend  of  a  stone  thrown  by  the  Celtic 
hero,  40 

Corstorphine  Hill,  ice-marks  on,  100 

Courses  (three)  open  to  every  student,  378, 
380 

Craiglockhart  Hill,  a  tor,  99 

Crater  in  Mexico  crowned  with  icicles,  358 ; 
of  Etna,  calculation  of  quantity  of  __  matter 
ejected  by,  in  four  days,  373  ;  of  Vesuvius  in 
1842,  401 ;  danger  of  visiting,  402 ;  cone  of 
eruption  in  1844,  402 

Craters  of  elevation  at  Reykjalid,  424  ;  posi- 
tion of  majority,  454  ;  direction  of  projec- 
tiles from,  454,  455 

Crisimo  (Monte),  part  of  Etna,  373 

Croagh  Patrick,  a  high  hill  in  Ireland,  47,  51 

Cromarty  Firth,  land  about,  133 

'  Cross-courses '  of  Dartmoor,  220 

Cruachan,  Achill  Island,  a  high  hill,  48 

Crust  of  the  earth,  how  it  may  be  studied, 
360  ;  formed  after  eruption  of  Geyser,  416 ; 
of  earth  and  crusts  of  stones,  422  ;  forma- 
tion of,  in  ancient  times,  336 ;  in  modern  ex- 
periments, 337 

Crystalline  beds  in  districts  show  great  signs 
of  disturbance  and  former  heat,  332 

Crystallisation  of  silver,  348,  349,  351 

Crystals  in  hollows,  origin  of,  360 

Cullen  Lake,  ice-marks,  51 

Cumbraes,  65 

Gumming  (Rev.  Geo.),  'The  Isle  of  Man"  re- 
ferred to,  173;  quoted  for  cause  of  drift, 
174 

Cushendal  and  Glenarm,  cliffs  of  chalk  be- 
tween, 60 

Current  (polar),  tracks  of  ancient  in  British 
Islands,  1 ;  (ancient)  direction  in  Anglesea, 
208 ;  when  a  cold  one  swept  over  Great 
Britain,  249  ;  in  Behring's  Straits  as  affect- 
ing vegetation  on  either  side,  254 


Curve  from  Novaya  Zemlya  described,  177; 
traced  from  Yorkshire  to  Wales,  198 

Curves  of  Arctic  Current  tiaced,  1(52, 163  ;  and 
waves  very  similar,  272  ;  described  by  drops 
of  ink,  455,  450  ;  on  ancient  stones,  457 

Cymri,  ancient  race,  186 

DAIIUT  (Princess),  tradition  in  Brittany  of  her 
being  overwhelmed,  188 

Dales  in  Yorkshire,  section  like  a  section  of 
Icelandic  glen,  178  ;  how  hollowed  out,  179, 
180 

Dal  whinny,  ice-marks,  121 ;  slate  traversed 
by  granite  veins,  117,  121 ;  (col  at),  state  of, 
in  different  sea-level,  135  ;  highest  terraces 
of  washed  drift  known  to  the  writer,  137 

Dalzell  on  the  Clyde,  rock  polished  and 
striated  by  ice,  97 

Dana's  '  Geology '  quoted  on  structure  of 
Appalachian  chain,  332 

Danemora,  Sweden,  iron  quarried  at,  340 

Danube,  what  change  of  level  would  sink  its 
source,  255 

Barker's  (Messrs.  C.  &  F.)  machinery  for 
polishing  optical  instruments,  455 

Dartmoor,  granite  and  mines  of,  219,  222 

Dechmont,  a  hill  of  whinstone  in  the  coal  for- 
mation, 93,  94,  95 

Dead  sunk  in  deep  water  by  natives  of  Tierra 
del  Fuego,  190 

Deep  grooves,  how  made,  5 

Delhi,  mean  temperature  at,  253 

Delta  of  Icelandic  river,  action  of  sun  and  of 
cold  on,  327,  328 

Deltas,  submarine,  217;  formation  of,  illus- 
tration, 308 

Dendritic  concretions  result  from  mechanical 
action,  306 

Denmark,  temperature  and  forests  of,  215 ; 
ancient  climate,  216 

Density  (average)  of  earth,  386 

Denudation,  whole  northern  hemisphere  owes 
its  general  shape  to,  162,  166  ;  Eig,  a  case 
of,  161  ;  Scotch  hills  and  glens  show  marks 
of,  164 ;  by  running  water,  illustrated  by 
lead-washing,  ISO;  (river)  older  than  Ice- 
landic history,  269 

Deposition,  mechanics  of,  may  be  learned  from 
models,  314 

Depression  over  north  of  Europe,  Geikie  on, 
256 

Derry  Veagh  range,  sand  on  one  of,  54 

Devil's  Bridge,  mark  made  by  a  river  in  slate 
rock,  210 

Dingwall,  boulders  of  pink  granite  near,  152 

Diphwys,  traces  of  an  arctic  current,  210 

Direction,  common  general  direction  of  ice- 
marks  in  N.  Ireland,  63 

Disturbance  in  old  strata,  330 ;  shown  in  dis- 
tricts with  old  crystalline  beds,  332 

Dochart  (Glen),  tarbert  once  at  head  of,  130 ; 
rocks  at  head  of,  148 

Dogger  Bank,  a  submarine  delta,  217 

Dolgelley,  glacier  glens  at,  210 

Douglas  Bay,  Isle  of  Man  viewed  from,  hori- 
zontal lines,  170 

Dovre-fjeld,  granite  blocks  on,  255 

'Downthrows'  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall, 
220 

Drachenfells,  tube  in  quarry,  403 


INDEX. 


507 


Drift  defined,  11 ;  stratified  and  tinstratified, 
12  ;  (rolled)  at  head  of  Scotch  glens,  132 ; 
accumulates   in   shallow    sounds,   135  ;    in 
Ireland  traced  to  1500  feet  above  sea-level, 
177  ;  in    Yorkshire,   179 ;    on  Welsh    hills 
stranded  by  sea-ice,   184  ;  (superficial)  re- 
mains of    cave  bears  and  tigers  in,  192  ; 
source  of,  at  the  end  of  glacial  period,  218, 
219 ;  on  prairies,  247 
Drift-ice,  Labrador,  236 
Drift-terraces  at  Kinlochewe,  141 
Drift-timber  about  Calf  of  Man,  169 
Driom  Albain,  the  back  of  Scotland,  hill  so 

called,  114 
Driom    Uachdar,    moraines    on    side,    140; 

granite  blocks  on,  255 
Dron  (Hill  of),  ice-marks  on,  115 
Drop,  shapes  made  by,  according  to  the  way  it 

falls,  446 
Drops,  lessons  derived  from  figures  described 

by,  451 

Dropped  blocks,  9 
Drowned  land  of  King  Grallon,  227 
Dubhgarrie,  Arran,  stones  in  walls  studied,  67 
Dubh  lartach,  long  reef  at,  161 ;  a  rough  rock 

off  West  of  Scotland,  201 
Dublin,  a  frozen  sea  once  over  the  site  of,  228 
Ducks  on  Serpentine,  278 
Duddingston  Loch,  spring  in,  408 
Dunblane,  nature  of  country  about,  109 
Dun  Chorre  Bhile,  a  steep  hill  near  Inverary, 

84 

Dunrobin  Castle,  ice-marks  near,  155 
Dust  from  an  eruption  of  Etna,  372 

EARL,  escape  of  one  from  his  foes,  caused  by 

nature  of  glen,  S3 

Earth's  attraction,  force  of,  on  stone,  451 
Earthquakes  in  Italy  and  Iceland,  what  beds 

are  disturbed  by,  330  ;  in  England,  355 
Eastern  coast  of  Scotland  from  Firth  of  Forth 

to  Duncansby  Head,  its  general  appearance, 

133,  134 
Eclipse  of  sun,  photographic  attempts  during, 

479 
Eddies  studied  at  Stockbridge,  229,  230,  231 ; 

in  molten  iron,  363 
Edinburgh,  a  frozen  sea  once  over  site  of, 

228 

Egg-shell  spinning  on  a  fountain,  444 
Eig,  Scaur  of,  161 
Elbe,  what  change  of  level  would  sink  its 

source,  2.';5 
Eldborg,  lava-crater  of,  430 ;    mountain-ash 

at,  431 
Electric  light  in  machine-room,  438 ;  produces 

all  the  results  of  photography,  441 ;  storms 

and  solar  spots,  497 

Electricity  might  be  applied  to  many  pur- 
poses as  yet  unthought  of,  266 
Elephants  (hairy)  once  lived  in  Britain,  187  ; 

(ancient),   witli  woolly  hair,  283  ;  remains 

found  in  British  Islands,  192 
Elk,  gigantic,  193 
'  Elvan '  of  Dartmoor,  222 
Encaustic  tiles  made  by  Minton  from  glacial 

chips,  181 

Engines  in  Great  Exhibition,  438,  439 
Engine-turning  by  sunlight,  484,  486,  487 
England,  climate  once  cold  in,  178 


Engraving  done  by  the  sun,  480-482 

Enniskillen,  53 

Entomostracous  Crustacea,  hatched  from 
mud,  308 

Ericht  (Loch),  high  terraces  of  drift  at   137 

Erlandsey,  one  of  the  Westman  Islands,  433 

Erratics  of  Scandinavian  origin,  their  occur- 
rence, 218,  219 

Eruption  of  Mount  Etna,  371-375 

Eruptions  of  Geysei-s,  irregularity  of,  413 

Esquimaux  chiefly  live  on  crust  of  sea,  sup- 
posed speculations  of  Esquimaux  geologists, 
335 

Estuary  of  glaciers,  ground  with  form  of,  198 

Ether  and  air-pump,  439 

Etna,  active  in  1863, 228  ;  eruption  of,  in  1865, 
371-375  ;  its  longest  slope,  454 

Evaporation,  experiment  to  show  amount  of, 
259,  260 

Ewe,  passage  of,  through  a  channel  of  rock, 
144 

Eyrik's  Jcikull,  snow  on  top  of,  ripple-marked 
by  wind,  295  ;  seems  to  rest  on  a  thin  bed 
of  sand  and  cinders,  314 

Exhibition  (Great),  department  of  machinery 
visited,  438 

Experiments,  value  of,  in  seeking  abstract 
knowledge,  263;  best  teacher  of  natural 
science,  356 

Exposed,  and  not  sheltered  places,  must  be 
observed  by  the  student  of  old  arctic  cur- 
rents and  glacial  drift,  2 

FAHLUN,  copper-mine  at,  340 

'  False  bedding '  often  true  deposition,  314 

Fannich  (Loch),  gap  in  hills  at,  140 ;  once  a 

sea  strait,  141 
Faro  Islands,  gravel  arranged  in  ridges  and 

furrows,  295 
'  Fault,'  a  great  one  observed  by  American 

geologists  in  the  Appalachian  chain,  333; 

in  an  ingot  of  iron,  365,  366 
Faults  in  beds  near  hot  springs,  what  they 

may  be,  420 ;  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall, 

220 

Fauna  and  flora  of  water-formation,  335 
Faxefjord,    small    lava-craters    round,   430  ; 

valleys  with  cones  of  eruption  and  lava- 
streams,  431 
Faxefjordr   (Bay   of),    spouting    spring    on 

southern  shore  of,  421 
'  Feinne,"  strong  men,  large  deer  and  birds 

in,  192 
Filter-maker  at  Temple-Bar  and  in  Regent 

Street,  waterworks  of,  442 
Findhorn,  gashes  in  rock  cut  by,  130  ;  moving 

sand-hills  of,  299 
Fin  Mac-Cool  and  his  sunken  country  near 

Isle  of  Man,  tradition,  189 
Finn   and   his  warriors,  Connemara  legend 

of,  41 

Fionn,  days  of,  190-192 
Fir-cones  arranged  spirally,  489 ;  (Scotch)  in 

Danish  peat-bogs,  215  ;  temperature  it  grows 

in,  216 ;  trees  leaning  towards  Strathspey, 

123 

Fire  kindling  heat-power,  265 
Fire-ball  observed  in  1864  in  France,  384  ; 

calculation  of  Lausedat  on  its  course,  384 
Fireclay  very  hard  to  fuse,  326 


508 


INDEX. 


Firths  on  east  side  of  Scotland,  action  of  tides 
on  coast,  134 

Fish  found  in  deep  water  off  submarine  cliffs, 
N.  Ireland,  59 

Fishable  water,  an  old  fisherman's  tent,  269 

Fishermen  off  Margate  drag  a  large  boulder 
to  land,  223 

Fishing  Test  trout  at  Stockbridge,  223 

Flat,  strata  not  always  deposited,  310 ; 
country  is  flat  where  uppermost  beds  are 
of  late  age,  330 

'  Flathinnis,'  the  abode  of  heroes,  Celtic 
tradition,  189 

Flints  rare  beyond  Giant's  Causeway,  61 

Floats  of  white  froth,  movements  of,  as  ob- 
served in  black  peat  water  of  Conan,  151 

Flowerdale,  ice-marks  near,  145 

Fluid  drawing  diagrams  of  its  own  movements, 
447 ;  a  hollow  shell  of,  may  form  inside  a 
solid  shell,  459 

Fluids  consist  of  particles,  272 

Fog  thickened  by  wetness  and  warmth  of  air, 
259 

Folge  Fond,  church-bells  said  to  be  heard  ring- 
ing under  glaciers  of,  189 

Forest  (drowned)  near  Mont  St.  Michel,  188 

Forres,  water-work  marks  at,  130 

Fossil  record  only  an  index,  322  ;  wood  under 
Scaur  of  Eig,  161 

Fossiliferous  beds  (sedimentary),  how  they 
may  have  been  formed,  329 ;  their  order  of 
succession,  330 

Fossils  projecting  above  the  surface  of  wea- 
thered rocks,  196 ;  (silicious)  from  Mammoth 
Cave  projecting  from  surface  of  limestone 
rock,  318 ;  are  time-keepers,  320 ;  principle 
on  which  age  is  reckoned,  321 

Fountain  of  a  London  filter-maker,  442 

Fountains  at  the  Geysers  provokingly  un- 
punctual  in  their  exhibitions,  413 

'  Foyer  Breton '  quoted  for  a  tradition  of  the 
overwhelming  of  a  city  in  Brittany,  188 

France,  sinking  of  a  part  near  Brest,  191 

Frankland  (Dr.),  lecture  at  Royal  Institution 
referred  to,  257 

Fredericton,  striae  at,  242 

Freezing  of  iron,  364 ;  sinking  in  of  roofs  of 
chambers,  365 

Freezing  of  water  by  air-pump,  etc.,  439 

Fronichean,  ice-marks  at,  75 

Frost  preserves  flesh  and  soft  parts,  320 ;  re- 
sult of  fire,  an  instance  of,  439 

Frosting  of  glass,  how  effected,  358,  359 

Frumenti  (Monte),  eruption  of  Etna  at,  374 

Fulgurites  in  British  Museum,  498 

Fumeroles  in  volcanic  countries,  435 

Fundy  (Bay  of),  242 ;  tidal  wave,  280,  281  ; 
rain-marks  on  mud  of,  315 

Furnace  (old)  pointed  out  by  large  cim'er- 
heaps,  268 ;  student  should  study  fusing  of 
metals  at,  354  ;  fire  a  source  of  rays,  441, 442 ; 
(iron),  what  may  be  seen  at,  468,  469 

Furnaces,  engines  for  blowing  air  into,  440 

Fumess  Lake,  Ireland,  blocks  at,  24,  25 

Fusion  of  iron  and  other  ores,  341 

GAIRLOCH  (Forest  of),  ice-marks,  16,  17  ;  once 
an  island,  135  ;  fossils  in  beds  of  quartz  rock, 
332 ;  hills,  their  nature,  140 

Galway,  hill   of  drift   at,  13  ;   action   of  ice 


in  country  about,  20,  71  ;  curve,  trail  of, 
42-46 

Ganges  runs  out  of  a  glacier,  255 

Garden  near  London,  effect  of  smoke  on,  488 

Garve  inn  and  loch,  ice-marks,  149 

Gas  (hot)  in  a  shell  of  colder  ttuid,  344 

Geikie  (Archibald)  '  On  the  Phenomena  of  the 
Glacial  Drift  in  Scotland '  quoted,  65,  256 ; 
referred  to,  164 ;  adopts  opinions  of  Professor 
Ramsay  in  his  '  Phenomena  of  the  Glacial 
Drift  of  Scotland,"  147 

Gellivari,  Lapland,  long  vein  of  magnetic  iron- 
stone at,  340 

'  Geological  Map  of  Scotland,'  by  Sir  R.  I. 
Murchison  and  A.  Geikie,  referred  to,  332 

George  (Lake),  243 

Geyser  deposits  stone  in  tiny  waves  like  ripples, 
296  ;  tubes  of  Iceland,  their  situation,  395  ; 
one  at  Reykjavik,  396 ;  (Great),  position  of, 
410  ;  dimensions  of,  411 ;  boiling  up  of,  412- 
416 

Geysers,  how  to  make  a  model  illustrative  of, 
391-394 ;  mechanics  of,  two  theories  to  ex- 
plain, 393  ;  tubes  close  to,  404  ;  sealed  tubes 
near,  408 ;  view  of,  from  the  horse-track,  409 ; 
position  of,  410 ;  temperature  of,  and  source 
of  heat,  418 

Giant's  Causeway,  marks  of  ice  near,  59 

Gigantic  beasts,  remains  of  and  traditions 
about,  192 

Glacial  action  at  Borth,  212 ;  traced  on  a  rail- 
way, 212,  213  ;  varies,  269 

Glacial  denudation,  extensive  marks  of,  in 
Wales,  210 

Glacial  drift  beds,  Mam  Turk,  44  ;  Leenan,  45  ; 
near  Inverness,  132 :  near  Dingwall,  154  ; 
highest  Scotch  terrace  at  Dalwhinny,  165  ; 
in  Isle  of  Man,  173 ;  how  caused,  174  ;  of 
northern  regions,  217 

Glacial  period,  its  end  coincided  in  level  with 
rise  of  isthmus  joining  Russia  and  Scandi- 
navia, 137 ;  the  present  time,  theory  of 
author  of  this  work,  147 ;  a  recent  one  in 
Britain,  249 :  and  in  America,  249,  250 

Glaciated  rocks  at  Bidstou  Hill,  181 

Glaciation  (signs  of),  in  Killarney  district, 
177 

Glacier  action  in  Wales,  199,  204  ;  where  two 
met  and  parted,  205  ;  de  Boissons,  Mont 
Blanc,  205  ;  picture  on  the  memory  caused 
by  a  scene  in  Ross-shire,  142  ;  tracks  in 
Strathspey,  128 

Glaciers,  course  of  ancient  floating  glaciers  in 
Ross-shire,  146 ;  the  last  Scotch,  165 ;  tra- 
ditions of,  167 ;  formed  dales  in  Yorkshire, 
180  ;  of  Central  Asia,  253  ;  how  they  might 
be  increased,  254;  not  the  result  of  cold 
alone,  257 

Glacier-ice,  how  formed,  325 

Glacier-system,  Arran,  record  of,  66,  67,  69 

Glaisher  (Mr),  finds  snow  falling  above  Eng- 
liiud  in  June  1863,  252 

Glass  and  sand,  temperature,  325 ;  transparent 
fused  moves  like  boiling  water,  357  ;  ball 
made  under  care  of  Mr.  James  Chance,  489 ; 
house,  a  miniature  volcano,  375  :  tank, 
observations  that  may  be  made  from,  304- 
309 

Glen  Doradh,  mounds  of  scratched  stones  in. 
81 


509 


Glenbar,  travelled  blocks  at,  74 
Glencrodh,  glacier  traces  iu,  79 

Glenelg  glen  runs  westward,  134 
Glenfalloch,  traces  of  ancient  ice,  79 
Glengarry,  deep  groove.  134;  once  a  strait  at, 
136 

Glenmoriston,  deep  groove,  134 

Glenroy  (parallel  roads  of),  ancient  state,  136 

Glentrnim,  glacier  tracks,  128 

Glenveagh,  perched  blocks  at  head  of,  57 

Glen  in  which  big  animals  were  hunted,  192 

Glens,  what  they  are,  5 ;  in  Western  High- 
lands, S3;  in  Sutherland,  their  direction, 
134 ;  in  northern  division  of  Scotland,  cor- 
responding with  notches  in  coast  line,  134  ; 
of  Yorkshire,  their  character,  178 ;  of  North 
Wales,  their  radiating  character,  205 

Gneiss  (Laurentian),  formerly  subject  to  high 
temperature,  339 

Goatfell,  Isle  of  Arran,  65 

Goat  Island,  Niagara,  packing  of  beds  of  gravel 
upon  glaciated  rock,  312,  313 

Goats  on  Cnoc  Ourid,  27 

Goddard  Crovan,  block  in  Isle  of  Man  said 
to  have  been  hurled  by  him  at  his  wife, 
173 

Godesberg  (Castle  of),  built  on  an  old  volcanic 
mound,  428 

Gold  nuggets  suddenly  cooled,  341  ;  paint,  ex- 
periment with  it  dropped  on  a  whirling  top, 
465 

Gorham,  White  Mountains,  laminated  terrace 
at,  290 

Granite  boulders  near  Ben  Wyvis,  1 J3  ;  blocks 
on  Dartmoor,  220 ;  breaking  and  weathering 
of  granite,  221 ;  hill,  the  nearest  to  Wales, 
214 

Grant  (Capt.)  on  glaciated  country  about 
source  of  Nile,  253 

Grantown,  glacial  drift,  railway  at,  129 

Graphite  in  French  meteoric  stones,  384 

Gravel  (terraces  of  stratified)  afford  a  series  of 
records,  136  ;  arranged  in  regular  ridges  and 
furrows  in  Faro  Islands,  295 

Gravitation,  a  term  that  cannot  be  perfectly 
understood,  263 ;  studied  in  a  glass  tank, 
304 ;  applicable  to  all  visible  material  things, 
355  ;  engine,  443 

Green  (Mr.)  of  Messrs.  Powell's  glassworks,  his 
assistance,  490 

Greenland,  mean  temperature  of,  216 

Green  Mountains,  raised  beaches  on,  290 

Greenock,  glaciated  rock  at,  78 

Grimsel  Col,  highest  known  limit  of  erratic 
formation,  206 

Groban  (hill  of),  ice-ground,  144 

Groove  crossing  Scotland  from  Dornoch  Firth 
to  Loch  Carron,  133 

Grooves  on  rocks,  4  ;  nothing  to  do  with  dip, 
strike,  or  subterranean  disturbance,  135 ;  on 
hills  near  Loch  Maree,  139 

Ground  (shaking  of),  engine  in  filter-maker's 
window  disturbed  by,  443 

Grouse,  hills  frequented  by,  125 

'  Growlers,"  fragments  of  icebergs,  236 

Gulf  Stream,  importance  of,  to  climate  of  Scan- 
dinavia, 156 ;  (equatorial),  the  best  course  to 

•  the  North  Pole,  445 

Guthrie  (Dr.),  tried  to  describe  iron  melting, 
361 


Gutta-percha,  experiment  with  heated  461  463 
Gweedor,  54 

Gwynant  valley,  action  of  ice,  193 
Gyroscope,  toy  invented  by  a  French  philoso- 
pher, 447 

HEMATITE  veins  with  icicle-like  pendants  in 
hollows,  341 

Haile  (Mr.  John  C.),  registers  of  sun's  power 
kept  by,  488 

Hamilton  Inlet,  picture  from,  extended  to 
Cheshire,  182,  183 ;  state  of,  in  July  and 
August  1864,  236 

Hampshire  (New),  ice-marks  in,  242 

Hares  (mountain),  footpaths  of,  on  Ben  Wyvw, 
153  . 

Harmony  produced  by  air,  440 

Harris,  direction  of  ice-grooves,  161,  162 

Harrison  (Cape),  Labrador,  235 

Hartford  Station,  Cheshire,  low  grounds 
about,  181 

Hazledown  Hill,  three  ridges  at,  225 

Heat  (marks  of),  most  apparent  on  rocks  low- 
est in  series,  324;  (internal)  indicated  by 
lower  beds,  327 ;  intense  heat  must  have 
altered  Laurentian  rocks,  334 ;  of  fusing 
metal,  nature  of,  343  ;  from  reflection,  curi- 
ous instance  of,  349 ;  effects  of,  387,  389 ;  of 
Geysers,  probable  deep  source  of,  418  ;  and 
of  other  springs,  421 ;  in  earth's  atmosphere 
and  internal  heat,  a  ray-force,  463 ;  rays 
travel  with  beams  of  light,  471 

'  Heaves'  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  220 

Hecla  a  cone  of  eruption,  429 ;  buried  tube 
of,  430  ;  its  long  axis,  454 

Heidelberg,  action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485 

Helen's  Tower,  view  from,  61 

Helgafell,  gravel  in  ridges  at,  296 ;  yellow 
volcanic  mountain  seen  from,  430 

Heliostat  required  to  make  accurate  photo- 
graph of  sun,  476 

Henderson's  '  Iceland'  quoted  for  account  of 
eruption  of  1783,  424,  425 

Herschel  (Sir  John),  papers  on  Light  in  Good 
Words  referred  to,  485,  493,  494;  (Sir  W.), 
observes  bright  streak  on  sun,  498 

Heytor  Rocks,  221 

Highlander  (ship),  lost  off  Newfoundland,  227 

Hills  (of  drift),  shape  of,  important  to  observe, 
137 

'  Himalaya'  and  other  vessels  encounter  ice- 
bergs in  southern  seas,  250 

Himalayas,  system  of  local  glaciers  there,  253  ; 
winds  over,  257 

Hippopotamus,  remains  of,  found  in  Great 
Britain,  193 

Hitchcock  (Prof.),  finds  sea-beaches  at  3000 
feet  above  sea  in  Switzerland,  252 

Hoar-frost,  rising  of,  358 ;  found  in  coal-pit, 
440 

Hollows  made  by  arctic  currents,  5 

Holmes'  light  in  Exhibition  of  1862,  441 

Holyhead,  glaciated  rocks,  20 

Holy  Isle,  Arran,  perched  boulders  on,  71 

Holy  Land,  rock  forms  in  resembling  ice-work, 
253 

Holy  rock  of  Tobar-an-doon,  resort  of  sick 
pilgrims,  58 

Honeysuckle  turns  with  the  sun,  489 

Hooker  (Dr.),  on  local  glaciers  of  Himalayas, 


510 


INDEX. 


253  ;  finds  an  ancient  moraine  on  Lebanon, 
253 ;  gives  a  reason  for  glaciers  being  on 
warmest  side  of  hills,  257 

Hopkins  (Mr.),  on  snow-line  and  glaciers 
reaching  the  sea  in  Wales,  etc.,  249 

Horizontal  lines  of  landscape  at  Stockbridge, 
224 

Horn  (Cape),  bergs  off  Cape  Horn  much  larger 
than  those  off  Newfoundland,  251 

'  Hotjlodes'  of  Devonshire  mines,  220 

Hot  springs  of  Iceland  might  be  used,  266  : 
at  Bath,  220  ;  working  model  of,  391 ;  in  an- 
cient sands  of  which  no  trace  remains,  395 ; 
why  at  the  foot  of  hills  in  Iceland,  397 

Hot  region  of  Iceland  lower  than  sea-level, 
426 

Hraundal,  Iceland,  crater  at,  376 ;  stones 
from,  378,  379 

Human  remains  in  Denmark,  215 

Humboldt,  on  heat  increasing  gradually  to- 
wards centre  of  earth,  36 

Hune  Hill,  Pentlands,  travelled  block  on,  98 

Hunting,  a  day's,  of  large  deers  and  birds, 
Celtic  story,  192 

Hvita  liver  and  its  white  mud,  269 

Hy£ena(cave),  remains  found  in  Great  Britain, 
193 

Hyde  Park,  shadows  of  posts  in,  marked  out 
by  lines  of  snow,  259 

Hydraulic  cranes,  inodern,  264 

'  Hyrm  Thyrsar,'  the  frost  giants,  210 

ICE,  motion  of  ancient  ice  about  Loch  Maree, 
16,  17 ;  level  about  Loch  Maree  where  it 
crossed  Scotland,  140  ;  (floating),  action  of 
at  Coed  Mawr,  199,  200  ;  marking  stones, 
201,  202;  (fjord),  traces  of  its  action  in 
Wales,  as  at  Hamilton  Inlet,  Labrador,  204, 
206;  in  the  Atlantic  in  18(54,  227;  before 
name  Iceland,  269 

Ice  (polar),  its  motion  south-westwards,  453 ; 
motion  of  a  bit  affected  by  revolution  of 
earth,  457 ;  engine  in  Exhibition  making, 
439 

Iceberg,  collision  of  screw-steamer  '  Royal 
Standard '  with,  250  ;  size  of  a  large  one  in 
8.  Seas,  and  what  it  might  do  in  the  N.  Seas 
were  the  sea  level  with  Ben  Nevis,  250 

Icebergs  once  between  Perth  and  Inverness, 
130 ;  might  grow  in  Sutherland,  if  Green- 
land weather  was  in  Norway,  156  ;  traces  of 
action  on  Snowdon  range,  200  ;  in  the  At- 
lantic, 235 ;  between  Belleisle  and  Cape 
Harrison,  236  ;  action  on  rocks,  237 ;  drop 
stones,  etc.,  241 

'  Ice-foot,'  probable  marks  of,  near  Dunrobin, 
155  ;  action  of,  165 

Ice-forms  imitated  by  freezing  silver,  350 

Ice-ground  hill:?  near  Loch  Maree,  138  ;  nature 
of  British  Isles,  conclusions  from  proof  of, 
165 ;  hills  and  glens  of  North  Wales,  194  ; 
rocks  of  Anglesea,  208 

Ice-marks  evidencing  a  great  rise  of  land  in 
Scotland,  116,  117 ;  in  Scotch  glens,  135 ; 
(horizontal),  when  made  hill-sides,  etc.,  in 
Scotland,  137 ;  on  Ross-shire  hills  indicate 
current  flowing  through  sounds,  144,  145  ; 
near  Dingwall,  152  ;  in  Mull,  Colonsay,  and 
other  Western  Islands,  161 ;  on  Isle  of  Man, 
170,  171 ;  worn  out  in  sandstone  and  lime- 


stone of  Yorkshire,  179 ;  on  granite  blocks 
at  Hartford,  181 ;  at  Eaton,  182 

Ice-marks  in  Con  way  Valley,  198;  on  Welsh 
hills,  203 ;  from  Shetland  to  Devonshire  at 
certain  elevations,  222 ;  direction  in  N. 
America,  239  ;  in  Newfoundland,  240 

Iceland  hills  resembling  some  in  Sutherland, 
157,  158  ;  volcanic  eruption  in  1862,  228  ;  no 
glaciers  on  north  coast,  259  ;  probably  rose 
from  the  sea,  314  ;  lava-floods  of,  315  ;  great 
eruption  of  1783,  424 

Icelanders  might  use  their  hot  springs,  etc., 
306 

Idris,  tradition  of,  in  Wales,  210 

Igneous  rocks  in  softer  strata,  how  left,  100  ; 
dykes  of,  at  Brada  Head,  and  their  effects  on 
cliff,  331 ;  believed  by  Neptuuists  to  be  pre- 
cipitates, 340 

'  Illustrated  London  News'  quoted  for  cut 
and  description  of  collision  of  a  ship  with 
iceberg,  250 

India,  change  of  level  that  would  sink,  255 

Indian  cosmogony,  266 

Indian  Island,  stride  on,  237 

Ink,  motion  of  a  drop  on  a  block  of  wood, 
446 

Inorganic  forms  recording  facts,  283 

Interior  of  earth  believed  by  Captain  Symmcs 
to  be  peopled,  368 

Invent,  what  it  means,  264 

Inver  Connemara,  jointed  tors  at,  7 ;  perched 
and  dropped  blocks,  10,  37 

Inverary,  81 ;  its  latitude,  90 

Inverness,  its  peculiar  position,  132 

lomachar,  Arran,  sea-cliff  at,  68 

Ireland  (west  coast  of),  marks  of  ice-floats,  19  ; 
most  of  it  once  under  water,  42  ;  Jukes  on 
action  of  ice  on  rocks  of,  175  ;  whole  island 
grooved  in  one  direction,  176 ;  glaciation  in, 
177;  traditions  of  land  rising  and  sinking 
in,  189 

Irish  hills,  weathering,  etc.,  of,  177 

Iron  at  Stoke,  depth  it  is  obtained  from,  181 ; 
the  melting  of,  described,  362,  363  ;  when 
fluid  has  eddies  just  like  water,  363  ;  of 
Lapland  and  Sweden,  340  ;  foundry,  visit 
to,  468  ;  iron-casting,  469  ;  furnace  and  sub- 
stance like  a  forked  branch,  326 ;  hollows 
in,  how  caused,  359  ;  '  run,'  Turner  tried  to 
paint,  Guthrie  to  describe,  301 ;  weapons  in 
Danish  peat-bogs,  215 ;  works  in  Lanark- 
shire, 95 

Ironstone  (magnetic),  long  vein  of,  at  Gelli- 
vari,  340 

Islay,  ice-marks  and  terraces,  161 

JAMBS  (Lieut. -Col.  H.), '  Abstracts  of  Meteoro- 
logical Observations '  quoted,  494,  495 

Jasper,  a  natural  volcanic  glass,  325 

Jersey,  tradition  about  it  having  been  once 
nearer  France,  188 

Johnston  (Keith),  '  Physical  Atlas,'  plate  10, 
referred  to,  178 

Joule  (Professor)  on  heat,  referred  to,  499 

Jukes  (Professor)  on  glacier  rounding  and 
polishing  of  Irish  rocks,  175 ;  '  Manual  of 
Geology"  quoted,  61 

Jura  Mountains,  round  lakes  at  the  foot  of, 
408 

Jutland  anciently  an  archipelago,  216 


INDEX. 


511 


KENSINGTON  waterworks,  observations  on  sun's 

burning  power  made  at,  4SG,  487 
Keris,  in  Brittany,  tradition  of  its  having  been 

overwhelmed,  18S 
Kettle,  powers  of  steam  studied  from  lid  of, 

2(54 
Killarney  district,  signs  of  glaciation  in,  177  ; 

tradition  about  the  good  O'Donoghue  riding 

on  surface,  189 
'  Killas'  of  Dartmoor,  222 
Killiecrankie  (Pass  of),  ice-tracks  at,  119 
Kingussie,  ice-marks  at,  120 
Kings,  traditions  about,  190 
King's  Caves,  Arran,  67 
King's  Seat,  an  ice-ground  hill,  113 
Kinlochewe,  glacier-marks  at,  138,  141 
Kinnaird's  Head,  134 
Kintail  glen  runs  westward,  134 
Kitchen  higher  than  level  of  Geyser,  419 
Kitchen-middens  of  Denmark  show  long  human 

occupation,  268 

Knoydart  glen  runs  westward,  134 
Kotzebue  on  difference  in  vegetation  on  two 

sides  of  Behring's  Strait,  254 
Krabla,  drops  on  mud  from  boiling  springs, 

317 ;  funnel-shaped  hollows  in  volcanic  de- 
bris at,  394  ;  supposed  cone  of  lava  at,  429  ; 

longest  slope,  454 
Krenznaeh,  near  the  Rhine,  beds  of  different 

colours  in  quarry,  314 
Kyle  Akin,   rapid  tide  through,  referred  to, 

132 

LABRADOR,  mean  temperature  of,  216 ;  coast, 
nature  of,  235,  236 ;  Laurentian  rocks  of, 
333,  334 

Laggan  inn,  ice-traces  near,  126 

Lamlash,  ice-grooves  on  sandstone  above,  66 

Lanarkshire  once  under  water,  95  ;  nature  of 
county,  96  ;  sandstone  casts  in  beds  of  iron- 
stone, 302 ;  iron-furnace  lined  with  fire- 
clay, 326 ;  smelting-furnaces  for  iron,  361  ; 
slag-roads  studied  by  author,  366 

Land-glaciers,  how  their  presence  or  absence 
in  former  times  may  be  inferred,  136  ;  be- 
coming rivers,  159  ;  probably  once  occupied 
upper  glens  in  Yorkshire,  179 

Land's  End,  great  wave  at,  286 

Lapland,  rise  of,  as  affecting  current,  219 ; 
magnetic  ironstone  in,  340 

Lapps  have  traditions  about  giants  and  big 
beasts,  186 

Laurentian  rocks  of  Labrador  altered  by  in- 
tense heat,  334 

Lausedat  (Prof.)  on  course  of  great  French 
meteorite  of  1864,  384 

Lava,  how  to  tell  which  side  of  a  bit  was  up- 
permost, 390  ;  sections  of  lava  figured, 
400-423,  described,  390  ;  of  Surtshellr  and 
Myvatn,  401 ;  of  Vesuvius,  403  ;  tract  of 
Iceland,  1500  miles  square,  covered  in  a 
few  days  with,  425 ;  mounds  in  Iceland, 
427,  428  ;  chambers  in,  355,  356 ;  blocks  in- 
dicating a  choked  tube,  426  ;  craters,  Faxe- 
fjord,  430  ;  Eldborg,430,  431 ;  shapes  copied 
by  freezing  silver,  350  ;  stones  like  sparks, 
370 

Lava-stream  on  Etna,  371 ;  more  rapid  in  the 
middle,  372 ;  at  Piedimonte  on  Etna,  374  ; 
setting  fire  to  trees,  375 ;  (old)  in  Iceland, 


375  ;  ueetion  through  surface  of  a  frozen 
one,  423 ;  vegetation  in  Iceland  best  about, 
431 

Laws  moving  air  opposite  ways,  232 

Laxey,  Isle  of  Man,  boulders  near,  171 

Layers  deposited  in  pit  of  Strokr  strangely 
contorted,  417 

Leaca  Bhreaca,  Arran,  igneous  rocks  ice- 
ground,  66 

Leaca  Donna,  a  hill  in  Ireland,  34-36 

Lead,  crystallising  of,  345 ;  how  silver  is  ex- 
tracted from  it,  346,  347  ;  ores,  smelting  of, 
destructive  to  vegetation,  341 ;  smelting  of, 
in  Yorkshire,  341  ;  silver  associated  with, 
342  ;  washing,  an  illustration  of  denudation 
by  running  water,  180 

Lebanon,  an  ancient  moraine  on,  253 

Ledge  on  north  side  of  Geyser-pipe,  417 

Legends  resting  on  piles  of  old  bones,  193 

Letterfrack,  boulders  at,  45 

Letterkenny,  boulders  near,  54 

Level,  change  of,  in  Wales,  187 ;  traditions 
about,  188  ;  of  sea  and  land  has  often 
changed  in  Eastern  Counties,  217  :  changes 
in  level  required  to  swamp  continents  not 
so  great,  255 

Lichens  will  not  grow  in  extreme  cold  or 
heat,  318 

Light  can  be  harnessed  and  set  to  work,  266 ; 
makes  ripple-mark,  274  ;  from  a  star,  reason- 
ing about,  left  to  astronomer,  354  ;  electric, 
438,  441 ;  waves  of,  467  ;  powers  of,  vary  as 
the  day  wears  on,  484  ;  influence  of,  on  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  life,  488,  489 ;  a  power 
in  every  engine  of  human  construction,  499 

Lighthouse  Commission,  drawings  made  by 
sun,  482 

Lightning,  effect  of,  on  bell-wire,  tree,  bed  of 
sand,  498 

Limestone  (Irish),  61  ;  dissolved  by  rain- 
water, 318 ;  of  coal  formation  used  in  iron- 
smelting,  325 

Liochart  (Loch)  grooves  on  gneiss,  148,  149 

Lions,  remains  found  in  British  Islands,  193 

Litharge,  346,  347 

Liverpool,  glaciated  rocks,  tides  near,  etc., 
181 

Llanberis,  glacier  once  there,  scenery  around, 
197  ;  col  at,  206 

Llandudno,    low    hills    with    boulders    and 

Eerched  blocks,  195 ;   Snowdon,  as  viewed 
rom,  209 

Llyn  Pencarreg,  a  small  Welsh  lake,  199 
Loch  Alsh,  glen  runs  westward,  134 
Loch  Awe,  ice  traces  on  shores,  82 
Loch  Eck,  boulders  on  shore  of,  80 
Loch  Ericlit,  boulders  near,  123 ;  once  a  sea- 
strait,  124 

Loch  Fyne,  ice  traces  on  shores,  81,  92 
Loch  Garry,  ice-marks,  120 
Loch  Goil,  glacial  drift,  80 
Loch  Long,  ice-marked  rocks  on  shore,  78 
Loch  of  Lundy,  113 
Loch-Maree,  ice-marks  on  hills  about,  16,  17 ; 

groove  which  holds,  141 
Loch   Ranza,  ice-marks,  70  ;    Castle,    large 

block  of  granite,  71 
Loch  Tarbert  (West),  isthmus  at,  76 
Lodes,  theories  of  deposition  of,  in  mines,  340 
Loggan  stones  of  Cornwall,  222 


INDEX 


Lomond  Hills,  Fife,  112 

London,  floes  and  icebergs  once  passed  over 
site  of,  226,  228 

Long  Island,  rocks  and  boulders  in,  160 

Lorn,  Cowal,  and  Ceantire,  once  perhaps  ten 
islands,  81 

Lougli  Corrib,  boulders  on  hills  near,  and  on 
the  shores  of,  23,  24 

Lough  Foyle,  53 

Lovat's  Forest,  deep  groove,  131 

Lundy  Hill,  ice-ground,  114 

Lyell  (Sir  Charles),  'Antiquity  of  Man"  re- 
ferred to,  164  ;  referred  T.o  for  account  of 
glacial  phenomena  in  Ireland,  177 ;  quoted, 
217,  218,  219  ;  on  distributions  of  land  and 
sea  producing  changes  of  climate,  251 

MACHARI,  Arran,  drift  arranged  in  terraces,  67 

Maes-y-Safn,  weathered  limestone  rocks,  195 

Magnetic  currents  seem  to  have  influenced 
bearings  of  metallic  veins,  340 ;  instruments 
at  Kew  disturbed  by  bright  white  light  in 
front  of  sun-spots,  497 

Magnetism  might  do  other  work  beside  pilot- 
ing, 266 

Malar,  raised  beaches  at,  289 

Malleable  iron,  363 

Mam  Turk,  beds  of  glacial  drift,  44 

Mammillated  surfaces,  6 

Mammoth  (Siberian)  eaten  by  dogs  when  ice 
was  thawed,  320  ;  near  Behring's  Straits, 
283  ;  Cave,  fossils  projected  from  limestone 
rock,  318 ;  Cave,  sick  persons  and  animal 
life  in,  489 

Man  (Isle  of),  observations  on,  169-176 ;  Ire- 
land of  same  shape  as,  176 ;  tradition  sup- 
porting geological  evidence  of  channel 
between  it  and  Ireland  having  once  been 
dry,  189 

Manchester,  action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485. 

Maps  of  Scotland  do  not  give  true  shape  of 
Sutherland  hills  and  glens,  134 

Marble  chiinney-pieee,  ridges  and  grooves 
like  a,  143  ;  quarry  on  Aracul,  Ireland,  55  ; 
stones  in  Cheshire,  182 

Marbles,  illustration  offeree  and  motion  from 
game  of,  272 

Maree  (Loch),  in  Western  Boss-shire,  its 
beauty  and  environs,  137,  138 

Margate,  a  large  boulder  found  oft',  223 

Marine  formation,  experiments  illustrating, 
304-307  ;  terraces  at  Stockbridge,  225 

Mascali  near  Etna,  372 

Maskelyne  (Prof.),  his  list  of  meteorites  in 
British  Museum,  383 

Massachusetts,  ice-marks  in,  242 

Mathieu,  on  the  fall  of  a  meteorite  in  France 
in  1864,  383,  384 

Maury,  '  Sailing  Directions '  quoted  for  gla- 
ciers being  on  wannest  side  of  hills,  257 

Meall  Mor  on  Gairloch,  ice-marks,  145 

Mechanical  tricks  shown  by  a  mathematician, 
444 

Mediterranean  perhaps  once  the  receptacle  of 
an  arctic  current,  252 

Melville  Island,  action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485 

Menai  bridge,  glens  formed  by  ice,  20 ;  strait, 
194  ;  groove,  208 

Mercury  below  frozen  water,  389 

Merkiar  Foss,  near  Hecla,  a  water-mark,  106 


Metal  and  slag  drops  may  teach  philosophers 

something  of  the  structure  of  the  earth,  369  ; 

(hot)  described,  469 

Metals,  cooling  of,  337 ;  theories  of  the  depo- 
sition of  lodes,  340 
Metallic  veins,  their  bearings  correspond  to 

magnetic  currents,  340 

Metamorphism,  is  it  a  result  of  heat?  327-329 
Meteoric  stones,  their  origin,  383  ;   numbers 

of,  in  museums,  384 
Meteorite    at    St.    Petersburg    described    by 

Pallas,  385 
Meteorites  and  sparks  in  a  smelting-house, 

369  ;  at  British  Museum,  382,  383  ;   paper 

on,  by  Figuier,  383 
*  Meteorological  Journal '  for  1857,  paper  in,  on 

self-registering  sundial,  483 
Mica-schist  block  on  Pentlands,  98 
Miller  (Hugh),  on  ice-marks  near  Edinburgh, 

102,  103 
Miners   might    use    heat-power  to    ventilate 

mines,  266 
Mines,  heat  increases  according  to  depth,  324  ; 

theories  of  '  deposition '  of  lodes  in,  340 
Minton's  potteries  at  Stoke,  181  ;  potteries  in 

Staffordshire,  324 

Model  to  illustrate  volcanic  action,  434-437 
Moel  Siabod,  Wales,  198 
Moel  Wyun,  Wales,  198  ;  once  an  island,  200  ; 

glaciers  once  on,  209 
Molehills  may  teach    how    mountains    were 

made,  263 

Mont  St.  Michel,  change  in  sea-level  at,  188 
Montmorenci  (Falls  of),  notch  visible  from 

Quebec,  242 
Montreal  strise,  245 
Moon,  mountain  in,  seen  on  eclipse  of  sun, 

479 

Mooselookmaguntic  Lake,  244 
Mop  (whirling),  Arctic  Ocean  compared  to, 

445  ;  fluids  from,  447 
Mop-curves  described,  451 
Moraine,  a  perfect  one  1350  feet  above  sea  in 

Ross-shire,  139  ;  boulders  forming  isthmus 

near  Great  Ormes   Head,   195  ;    crumbled 

slate  below  Cader  Idris,  210 
Moraines,  various  kinds,  11;  mark  retreat  of 

dwindling  glaciers,  204 
Moray  sandhills,  tradition,  190 
Morpeth,  clay  and  boulders  near,  175 
Moss-hole  drained,  a  model  on  a  small  scale, 

122 
Motion  remotely  caused  by  rays  of  light,  442  ; 

of  a  stone  projected  from  a  volcano  at  equa- 
tor, 451 

Moulds  for  iron,  364 
Mound  at  Borth,  212  ;  curious  beach  at  Snaj- 

fell,  288 
Mounds  of  large  stones  near  Inverness,  how 

carried,  133;  with  tubes  in  Iceland,  427; 

ancient  ones  at  Bonn,  4'28  ;  formation  of,  in 

Iceland,  429 
Mountain-ash  tree  growing  on  lava  at  Eld- 

borg,  431 

Moyculleen,  hills  of,  23  ;  fine  sample  of  an  ice- 
ground  country,  25 

Mud,  quantity  of,  estimate  of  work  of  denu- 
dation, 270  ;  spring  and  formation  of  tubes 

near  Great  Geyser,  404 
Muddy  water  of  glacier-rivers,  269 


INDEX. 


513 


Mull  of  Ceantire,  ice-grooves  at  end  of,  73 

Muswell  Hill,  northern  drift  at,  '219  ;  walk  to, 
in  search  of  glacial  drift,  226 

Myra  Syssla,  district  formed  of  old  beaches, 
289 

Mythical  disasters  probably  records  of  real 
events,  191 

Myvatn,  a  volcanic  stone  from,  376,  377  ;  ver- 
tical chambers  in  lava  at,  401 ;  cluster  of 
extinct  volcanoes  at,  421 ;  plain  near,  cham- 
bered, 422 

NAPLES,  action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485 

Nasmyth  (Mr.)  on  present  condition  of  planets 
throwing  light  on  former  condition  of  world, 
497 

Natural  science  not  taught  in  English  schools, 
266 

Nebula,  many  resembling  curves  drawn  by 
whirling  engines,  493  ;  betray  mechanical 
force  in  light,  500 

New  Brunswick,  ice-marks  in,  241,  242 

Newcastle,  clay  and  boulders  near,  175  ;  lead 
ore  fused  at,  to  extract  silver,  342,  347 

Newfoundland  (banks  of),  what  they  are,  217  ; 
and  parts  of  Europe  it  corresponds  with, 
239,  240 ;  Indians  and  quadrupeds  of  in- 
terior, 241  ;  bays,  raised  beaches  at  their 
head,  289  ;  rocks  of,  333 

New  York,  ice-marks  in,  242-244 

New  Zealand,  glaciers  in,  251 

Niagara  Falls,  ice-marks,  245  ;  (river),  chan- 
nel cut  by,  313 

Nile,  country  about  its  source  glaciated,  253 

Nohic  d'Orgueil,  shower  of  stones  which  fell 
at,  384 

Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Essex,  changes  in  rela- 
tive level  of  sea  and  land,  217 

Nprmandy,  tradition  in,  of  change  of  sea-level, 
'188 

North  Berwick  Law,  ice-marks  on,  103 

'  North  British  Review'  for  May  1864  referred 
to,  on  the  subject  of  heat,  499 

North  Cape,  mean  temperature  of,  216 

Northwich,  boulders,  salt-mines,  and  brine- 
springs,  183 

Norwegian  dales  very  like  smaller  Yorkshire 
dales,  180 

Nova  Scotia,  ice-marks  in,  241,  242  ;  haematite 
veins,  with  icicle-like  pendants  in  hollows, 
341 

Nuts  or  tropical  seeds  cast  up  by  the  sea,  50 

OAK  trees  of  peat-beds  in  Denmark,  215 

Obsidian,  a  natural  black  glass,  325 

Ocean,  circulation  of,  232  ;  work  and  ice-work 

contrasted,  Achill  Island,  49 
Ochil  hills  once  a  steep  island,  107 ;  viewed 

from  different  points,  109 
O'Donoghue,  tradition  of  the  surface  of  Lake 

of  Killarney  being  ridden  over  by,  189 
Olivine,  mineral   in   meteoric    stone  at  St. 

Petersburg,  385 

Ontario  (Lake),  its  bottom  below  sea-level,  255 
Open  water  near  the  Pole,  where  to  look  for 

it,  445 

'  Orbs  of  Heaven'  referred  to,  494 
Ordnance  map  of  basin  of  Firth  of  Forth,  104, 

105 
Organic  forms  and  climate,  323 

VOL.  II. 


Organs  in  Exhibition  blown  by  engines,  440 

Orkney,  great  loose  stones  in,  162 

Onnes  Head  (Great),  isthmus  at,  formed  of 
boulders,  195  ;  (Little),  outlines  of  country 
from,  198,  194 ;  low  hills  at,  195 

Ornaments  (golden)  laid  bare  by  wind  in 
Moray,  300 

Oronsay,  ice-marks  and  terraces,  161 

Ortles  Spitz,  once  a  tall  rock  in  a  European 
ocean,  207 

Ossian,  story  about,  191 

Ox  boiled  in  hot  spring,  419 

Oxen  (gigantic),  remains  found  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, 193 

Oxhver,  Iceland,  418 

Oxwell,  Iceland,  hot  spring,  why  so  called,  41!) 

PALLAS,  meteorite  at  St.  Petersburg  described 

by,  385 

Palm-tree  implies  warm  air,  319 
Parallel  roads  of  Highland  glens,  125  ;  of  Glen- 

roy,  136 

Particles,  acting  of  force  and  resistance  on,  272 
Passages  on  hill-sides  in  Yorkshire  to  remove 

smoke  of  smeltiug-houses  for  lead-ore,  341 
Pately  Bridge,  old  ripple-marks  at,  281 ;  curious 

inorganic  forms  at,  283 
Pattinson's  process  of  refining  silver,  347 
Paving-stones  at  Pately  Bridge,  how  formed, 

283,  284 
'  Peaks,  Passes,  and  Glaciers  of  the   High 

Alps  '  referred  to,  184 
Peaks  of  hills  jagged  and  fantastic  like  those 

of  Lofoten  hills,  142 
Peat  found  below  low-water  mark,  42 
Pentland  hills  volcanic,  ice-marks  on,  98 
Perch  in  English  ice,  illustration,  320 
Perched  blocks,  9 ;  one  on  Cnoc  Ourid,  28 ; 
another  on  Cnoc  Mordan,  29 ;  Coll  and  Tyree, 
161 ;  at  Little  Onues  Head  and  Llandudno, 
195 

Permian  age  (breccias  of)  deposited,  147 
Petersburg,  action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485 
'Philanthropist'  (ship)  lost  off  Newfoundland, 

227 
Phillips  (John  A.),  '  Manual  of  Metallurgy ' 

referred  to,  342 

Photograph  of  sun,  472, 473,  474,  501 
'  Photographic  Journal,'  1858,  quoted  for  pho- 
tograph of  sun  after  an  eclipse,  475 ;  for  Au- 
gust 1860,  Mr.  Warren  de  la  Eue's  operations 
in  photographing  sun,  477 
'  Photographic    Journal '    of   Liverpool    and 

Manchester  referred  to,  490 
Photography  and  photometry,  273 ;  chemical 
and  other  results  of,  produced  by  electric 
lights,  441 

Phynnodree,  a  Manx  fairy,  and  his  deeds,  173 
Pig-iron,  363 
Pilgrims  resort  to  holy  rock  of  Tobar-an-doon, 

58 

Pine-apples  arranged  spirally,  489 
Pipes  about  ironworks,  how  formed,  400 
Pittsburg  to  Harrisburg,  structure  of  country 

observed  when  travelling  from,  332,  333 
Plants  stopping  movement  of  sand,  301 
Plaster-of-Paris  used  as  an  illustrative  model, 
390 ;  illustrative  experiment  with,  to  show 
how  tubes  and  hollows  of  hot  springs  are 
formed,  406,  407 


2  L 


514 


INDEX. 


Plynlimmon,  ice-marks  on,  202 
Pointer-dog  quarters  his  ground  on  system,  108 
Polar  currents  versus  polar  glaciers,  247 
Pole  might  be  reached,  445 ;  best  course  for  a 

ship  or  a  sledge,  445 

Polished  surface  in  situ  proves  passage  of  ice,  3 
Portland  Island,  waves  observed  from,  279 
Position  and  the  age  of  a  fossil,  322 
Poteen  distillery  in  Ireland,  36 
Pottery  manufacture,  324 
Prairies,  drift  on,  247 
Present  time  the  '  glacial  period,"  theory  of 

author  of  this  work,  147 
Projectile   (curve   of)   followed   by  volcanic 

bomb,  451 
Puckaster  Cove,tradition  of  merchandise  taken 

to,  on  horseback  from  Winchester,  188 
Pyrenees,  '  ice-peaks,"  227 

QUARRIED  blocks,  8 

Quarryman  and  hob-nailed  boots,  4 ;  conver- 
sation with,  about  travelled  granite  blocks, 
127 

Quartz,  marks  on,  are  rare,  14  ;  rock  near  Loch 
Maree,  peculiarities  of  weathered  surface, 
139 ;  hills,  effect  of  ice  on,  140 ;  rock  pro- 
bably once  a  sandbank,  332 ;  lines  of  mean- 
dering in  cliffs  of  W.  Scotland  were  once 
soft,  332 ;  (gold-bearing)  like  burnt  stone, 
341 

Quebec,  ice-marks  at,  242 

Queen's  Drive,  Arthur's  Seat,  ice-marks  near, 
101,  102 

RAASAY,  ice-marks  and  their  direction,  161 

Radiating  mechanical  forces,  233 ;  movements 
caused  by  solar  rays,  471 

Radiation  of  heat,  387  ;  (terrestrial),  effects  of, 
in  building  chambers,  tubes,  etc.,  420  ;  and 
gravitation  shaped  the  igneous  crust  of  the 
earth,  437 ;  their  power,  442 ;  causes  rota- 
tion, etc.,  461 ;  (sun's),  effects  of,  489,  490 

Rafford  station,  drift  at,  130 

Railway  (Inverness  and  Perth  Junction), 
heights  of  stations  above  sea,  131 ;  cutting 
in  Wales  from  Borth  to  Shrewsbury,  212 

Rainfall  in  Argyleshire,  87  ;  at  Inverary  and 
Gairloch  greater  than  in  Shetland,  258 ; 
marks,  modern  and  ancient,  315,  316  ;  ex- 
periment on,  317 ;  water,  its  action  on  lime- 
stone rock,  196  ;  water  holds  carbonic  acid 
in  solution,  318 

Raised  beaches  at  Myra  Syssla  and  Malar,  289 ; 
Newfoundland  and  United  States,  290 

Ramsay  (Prof.),  '  The  Physical  Geology  and 
Geography  of  Great  Britain"  referred  to,  147  ; 
on  glacial  phenomena  of  Wales,  184 ;  '  On 
the  Superficial  Accumulations  and  Surface 
Markings  of  North  Wales'  referred  to,  203 

Ray-force,  293  ;  power,  familiar  examples  of, 
355,  360 ;  (source  of),  a  furnace  fire,  441,  442 

Rays  of  sun,  distances  they  travel  and  their 
heating  effects,  490 

Records  to  be  read  from  gravel  terraces,  136 

Red  Bay,  stria?  at,  237 

Red-deer  (gigantic),  remains  found  in  Britain, 
193 

Red  flames  on  sun,  attempt  to  take  by  photo- 
graphy, 479 

Red  snow  caused  by  minute  vegetation,  335 


Reefs  in  Western  Islands,  161 

Reflectors  (metal),  a  suggestion  for  making  of, 
459 

Refrigeration  of  Labrador  climate,  217 

Reid's  '  Elements  of  Chemistry '  referred  to, 
342 

Reindeer,  remains  found  in  British  Islands 
and  France,  193 

Relative  position  proves  relative  age  of  fossil. 
321 

'  Rest-and-be-thankful,"  81,  92 

Reykjalid,  lava-domes,  etc.,  at,  422 

Reykjavik,  Little  Geyser  and  spring  at,  390  ; 
action  of  sun's  rays  at,  485 

Reykholt,  spring  building  a  mound  in  a  river 
near,  420  ;  bath  in  which  Snorro  bathed, 
420 

Rhe  (Isle  de),  cross-rollers  at,  279 

Rhinoceros,  remains  of  two  large  species  in 
British  Islands,  193 

Ilhyll,  alluvial  plain  at,  196 

Ripple-marks  (old),  of  Yorkshire  and  Pately 
Bridge,  281  ;  of  Orkney  and  Wales,  284  : 
need  not  be  the  work  of  the  sea,  294 ;  on 
snow  by  wind,  295  ;  caused  by  motion  in 
some  fluid,  296 

Ripples  on  surface  of  water,  276 

Rise  of  land  in  Scotland,  effect  on  passes, 
135  ;  in  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Scandinavia, 
nature  of  last,  165;  in  Wales,  187  ;  how  in- 
dicated, 291  ;  in  Labrador,  236 

River-beds  in  Western  Highlands,  83 

River-glaciers  in  glens  of  Scotland,  135 

Rivers  did  not  form  dales  in  Yorkshire,  180 

Road-dust  (depositing  of),  as  illustrating  for- 
mation of  sedimentary  beds,  311 

Rob  Roy's  Castle,  83 

Roches  moutonnees,  5,  6 

Rock,  marks  of  heat  on  lower,  324  ;  basins  and 
lakes,  Prof.  Ramsay  on  cause  of,  147  ;  sur- 
face, vain  search  for,  near  Lough  Neagh,  62 

Rocks,  action  of  icebergs  over,  237 ;  in  North 
America,  newer  to  the  south,  older  to  the 
north,  330 

Roisg  (Loch),  col  and  heaps  of  drift  at  head  of, 
148 

Roller  (Atlantic),  its  motion  and  appearance 
described,  201 ;  studied  on  Scottish  coast, 
285 

Rona,  ice-marks  and  their  direction,  161 

Roscoe  (Professor),  papers  on  light  alluded  to, 
485 

Roses,  how  affected  by  smoke  and  houses, 
488 

Rossie,  two  wide  glens  behind,  collections  of 
drift,  112;  means  promontory,  116 

Rotation,  effects  of,  on  ink,  455,  457  ;  on  hot 
wax,  457, 458  ;  models  to  illustrate  effects  of, 
459  ;  caused  by  radiation,  461 

Rowardennan,  ice-grooves  on  rock,  79 

'  Royal  Standard'  (screw  steamer),  collision 
with  iceberg,  250 

Rubbish-beds,  time-keepers,  269 

Rubbish -heaps,  rocks  with  ripple-marks  were, 
297 

'  Run '  (iron)  described,  362,  363 

Rutivari,  magnetic  ironstone  at,  340 

SAGA,  illustration  of  geology  from  turning 
over  leaves  of,  321 


INDEX. 


515 


Sahara,  inariue  shells  found  in,  251 ;  a  recent 

sea-bottom,  253 

Salisbury  Crags,  ice-marks  on,  101 
Salt,  quantity  paying  canal  dues  annually  at 

Northwich,  183 
Sand  for  glass-making,  Derry  Veagh,  54  ;  waves 

on,   produced  by  water-waves,    273,   275  ; 

arranged  by  wind  on  dry  ground,  298,  300  ; 

temperature  to  convert  into  glass,  325 
Sand  and  mud  washed  into  lakes  in  Strath 

Bran,  148;   experiments  on   deposition  of, 

304,  305 
Sand-beaches  formed  by  air-waves  in  Iceland, 

299 

Sand-beds  in  Cheshire  (contorted),  182 
Sand-drifts  in  Iceland,  299 ;  in  Scotland,  300, 

301 
Sand-form  records  movement  in  water,  air. 

and  light,  273 
Sandhills  (moving)  near  the  Findhorn,   299  ; 

farms  covered  up  by,  300 
Sand-lines  on  polished  surface,  4 
Sand-mounds  at   Granville   formed   by  sea- 
worms,  395 

Sand-spit  formed  by  waves  at  Isle  de  Rhe,  280 
Sandstone  with  ripple-marks,  281 
Sawdust  indicates  numbers  of  trees  sawn  in 

Scandinavia,  268 
Scandinavia,  tradition  of  seven  parishes  having 

been  smothered  under  ice  and  snow,  189 
Scandinavian  pattern  and  origin,  stones  of,  156 
Scaur  of  Eig,  16 
Schreibersite,  a  mineral  found  in  meteoric 

stones,  383 
Scilly  Bishops,  the  last  of  the  British  Isles, 

234 

Scores  on  polished  surface,  4 
Scotland  (central)  once   crossed   by  narrow 

sounds,  130  ;  traditions  of  castles  and  towns 

having  been  submerged,  189;   large  dykes 

and  upthrows  of  granite,  trap,  basalt,  etc. , 

in,  332 
'  Scotsman,'  extract  from  letter  in,  on  Etna, 

371 
Scottish  Central  Railway,  nature  of  country  it 

passes  through,  108  ;  hills  seen  from  Auch- 

terarder,  109  ;  landscapes  once  like  the  hills 

of  Iceland,  129 

Scrap-iron  used  to  cool  molten  iron,  469 
Scrapings  of  London  streets,  studies  of,  316 
Sea,  action  of,  on  north  coast  of  Sutherland, 

160 ;    on  land,  185,  186  ;    all  frozen,  there 

would  be  few  clouds,  258  ;  bottom  of,  made 

of  lava,  432  ;  need  not  be  the  cause  of  old 

ripple-marks  and  wave-marks,  294 ;    spoor 

of,  in  Switzerland,  291 
Sea-bottom  at  ebb  of  tide,  301 ;  nowhere  flat, 

302  ;  (ancient),  in  North  America,  314 
Sea-coast  line,  how  formed,  185 
Sea-horses  and  bears  once  in  Ireland,  41 
Sea-ice  carried  blocks  in  Ireland,  40 
Sea-level  has  varied  greatly  on  Irish  hills,  42  ; 

(ancient),  of  Scotland,  according  to  Hugh 

Miller,  103 ;  a  rise  of  1000  or  1500  feet,  its 

effect  on  northern  part  of  Scotland,  135  ; 

changes  in,  Cornish  traditions  regarding, 

187 ;    ancient,    formerly  much    higher    in 

Wales,  203 
Sea-margins  (ancient)  of  British  Islands  show 

that  the  last  rise  of  land  was  general,  136 


Sea-marks  on  watershed  in  passes,  135  ;  (old), 
in  sedimentary  beds,  302 

Sea-shells  on  Snowdon,  187 

Sea-strait,  glen  now  holding  Caledonian  Canal 
once  a,  132;  an  ancient  one  in  Wales,  204, 
207 ;  ancient  one  in  North  America,  244 

Sea-worms  at  Granville,  their  habits,  mounds 
of  sand,  395 

Sealing  fleet  at  Toulinguet  in  1864,  238  ;  beset 
by  ice,  239 

Sealing-wax,  effects  of  heat  on,  illustrative  of 
heat  on  lava,  390 

Searching  for  ice-marks,  15 

Sedimentary  beds,  formation  of,  illustrated 
by  that  of  snow-beds  and  deposition  of  road- 
dust,  311  ;  rocks,  what  they  teach,  268,  269  ; 
formed  of  chips,  270  ;  rocks  how  formed, 
302 

Senora,  meteorite  found  at,  386 

Separation  of  lead  and  silver,  345 

Serapis  (Temple  of),  sank  under  water  and 
rose  again,  228 

Serpentine,  London,  waves  on,  studied,  277 

Sevres  china  factory,  materials  used,  324 

Sgeire  Mhor  reef,  161 ;  curve  of  arctic  current, 
163 

Sgur-a-Mhulin,  148,  150 

Shan  Folagh,  Connemara,  marks  of  an  arctic 
current  around,  31,  32  ;  its  various  states  at 
different  epochs,  33 

Shell-fish  (a  burrowing),  habits  of,  illustrative 
of  hot  springs,  394 

Shells  in  drift  in  Wales,  207  ;  (marine)  met 
with  600  feet  above  sea  in  Wicklow,  etc., 
177  ;  (marine)  at  Falls  of  Montmorenci,  242  ; 
visible  in  many  fathoms  water  in  West  Scot- 
land, 269 ;  extract  silica  from  sea-water, 
310 ;  marl  of  eastern  counties  of  England, 
217 

Shetlands,  ice-ground  rocks,  162 

Shingle-terraces  at  corresponding  levels  at 
many  distant  points  in  Britain,  136 

Shower  (thunder),  study  of  London  mud  dur- 
ing, 316 

Shrewsbury,  museum  of  antiquities,  213 

Siderolites,  their  composition,  383 

Sidlaw  Hills,  111 ;  what  they  would  be  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  114, 115 

Silica  held  in  solution  by  Geyser  water,  310 

Silt,  forces  which  pack,  270,  271  :  (ancient) 
deposit  and  packing  recorded,  282  ;  packing 
of,  observed  on  shore  in  shallow  water,  303 

Silver,  cooling  of  an  ounce  of,  338,  358 ;  found 
in  smelted  lead,  342 ;  freezing  point  of,  345  ; 
how  extracted  from  lead,  346,  347  ;  (pure)  a 
specimen  of,  338 ;  how  it  was  prepared, 
352 

Skeleton  history  of  world's  crust,  fossils,  321 

Skjaldbreid,  old  lava-streams  at,  425 ;  a  frozen 
lava-stream,  432 

Skye,  traces  of  work  by  land-ice,  161 

Slag  in  iron  cooling,  363 ;  in  iron  furnaces, 
400  ;  on  molten  iron,  contains  a  magazine  of 
rav -force,  470;  studied  when  cooling,  470, 
471 

Slag-forms,  357,  358  ;  slag  crust,  360 

Slate  rock  at  Devil's  Bridge  worn  by  river,  210 

Sliamh  Gaoil  near  Tarbert,  ice-ground,  76 
Slickenside,   Arthur's   Seat,    101  ;    in   Welsh 
mines,  214  ;  in  veins,  282 


516 


INDEX. 


Slides  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  220 
Slioch,  a  mountain  in  West  Ross-shire,  138 ; 

furrows  on,  143 ;  way  to  Norway  open  from, 

to  Wyvis,  155 
Slope  (longest)  of  cones  of  eruption,  453  ;  of 

Etna,  Vesuvius,  and  Hecla,  454 
Smelting  iron,  limestones  used  in,  325  ;  houses 

in  Lanarkshire,  361  ;  in  Greenock,  lessons 

studied  in,  369 
Smithsonian  Institute,  'Ainsa'  meteorite  in, 

385 

Smoke  on  a  heath  or  field,  studies  of  air  mo- 
tion, 275  ;  nuisance,  observations  made  to 

show,  488 
Smyth  (C.  Piazzi),  on  effect  of  sun's  rays  on 

Teneriffe,  compared  with  effect  of  heat  of 

moon,  etc.,  471 ;  on  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe, 

434 
Snaefell,  a  cloud  condenser,  259  ;  beach  at,  288 ; 

great  cone  of,  430  ;  longest  slope,  454 
Snaefells  Jokull,  very  like  in  shape  to  a  mound 

formed  by  a  hot  spring,  421 
Snsefell,  Isle  of  Man,  171 ;  surface  and  struc- 
ture of,  172 
Snorro,  bath  at  Reykholt  in  which  he  bathed, 

420 
Snow,  melting  of,  on  a  glass  roof,  illustration, 

339 

Snow-bed  on  ice  of  a  pond,  illustration,  322 
Snow-beds  in  Iceland  alternating  with  beds 

of  ashes,  310 
Snow-beds    (stratified),    undulate   with    the 

ground  beneath  them,  311 
Snow-dome,  Central  Scotland  probably  once 

a,  142 
Snow-drifts,  influences  of  melting,  295  ;  are 

air-marks,  297  ;  principle  of,  298 
Snow-line  and  glaciers  reaching  the  sea  in 

Wales  and  Ireland,  conditions  of,  249 
Snow-models  of  the  curved  path  of  air,  297 
Snow-wave  in  Cheshire,  293 
Snow-waves  after  strong  gale,  297 ;  gigantic 

ones  on  Alps  and  in  Iceland,  298 
Snowdon  range  from  Anglesea,  20  ;  sea  shells 

found  high  up  on,  187  ;  ridge,  194 ;  range 

once  an  archipelago,  200 
Snowy  mountains  in  Africa,  253 
Soda-water  bottle,  illustration  from,  359 
Soil  and  sediment  not  altered  by  slow  rise  or 

falling  of  earth,  329 
Solar  heat  stored  in  coals,  338  ;  system  turns 

one  way,  467  ;  photography,  how  to  con- 
duct it,  476  ;  scale,  4S1 ;  spots  and  electric 

storms,  497 
Solids  deposited  by  hot  springs  in  Iceland, 

395 

Somma  (Monte),  how  raised  from  the  sea,  434 
Sound  waves,  copied  in  dry  sand  and  water, 

273  ;  absence  of,  when  bell  is  struck  in  ex- 
hausted receiver  of  air-pump,  467 
Sounds,  Central  Scotland  once   crossed   by 

narrow,  130 

'  Sow  and  pigs,'  moulds  for  iron,  363 
Space,  regions  in,  supposed  to  be  colder  than 

others,  260,  261 
Sparks    in    a     smelting-house,    drawn    and 

studied,   370,   377  ;   from   electro-magnetic 

engine,  441 
Speculations  (fancied)  of  a  future  Esquimaux 

geologist,  335,  336 


Spey,  course  of,  127 

Spheres  projected  from  molten  silver,  350 ; 
spongy  structure  of,  351 

Spiral  arrangements  in  vegetable  kingdom, 
489  ;  nebulae,  493  ;  pattern  of  winds,  of  sur- 
face of  sun,  496 

Spoor,  3 

Spots  on  sun  cause  increased  temperature  on 
earth,  498 

Sport,  how  to  combine  two  kinds  of,  2 

Spout-fish,  habits  of,  394 

Spray  from  a  wave,  286 ;  of  Geyser,  scalding, 
417 

Spring  in  Duddingston  Loch,  408  ;  (hot)  near 
Reykholt,  420 ;  (hot)  experiment  to  ex- 
plain formation  and  movement,  434-437  ; 
(mud)  in  Iceland,  observations  on,  404, 
405  ;  (spouting)  Bay  of  Faxefjordr,  421 

Stars,  rays  from,  act  on  photographic  chemi- 
cals, 492 

Star  Point,  lake  near,  287 

Steam  and  hot  metals,  343  ;  formation  of, 
344  ;  (violent  action  of)  in  iron-furnaces, 
364,  365  ;  in  Geysers  and  hot  spring  at  Reyk- 
holt, 412;  of  Strokr,  416,  417;  formation 
of,  387 ;  boilers  deposit  earthy  materials  in 
ripple-marks,  296 ;  engine  in  Strathspey, 
127  ;  engines  in  boats,  how  employed,  262, 
263  ;  power  in  Great  Exhibition,  439 

Still,  fuel  supplied  to,  and  water  poured  on 
the  worm,  an  illustration,  260 

Stirling,  ice-marks  on  castle  rock,  108 

Stiper  stones,  boulders,  213 

Stockbridge,  trout  and  greyling  of,  223  ; 
shelves  at,  224 ;  denudation  and  deposition 
at,  229 

Stoke,  English  watershed  at,  180  ;  Minton's 
potteries  at,  181 

Stone-book  of  sedimentary  rocks,  323 

Stone  implements  in  peat-bogs  of  Denmark, 
215  ;  found  under  sand-hills  in  Morayshire, 
300 

Stones  scratched,  grooved,  and  scored  by  ice 
near  Blackrock,  21  ;  (red  hot)  projected 
from  crater  of  Etna,  371  , 

Storm  in  Arran,  69 

St.  Abb's  Head,  134 

St.  John's  'Wild  Sports  of  the  Highlands'  re- 
ferred to,  299  ;  '  Natural  History  and  Sport 
in  Moray '  referred  to,  299 

St.  John's  Harbour,  Newfoundland,  in  June, 
240,  248 ;  New  Brunswick,  242 

St.  Lawrence,  shores  of,  ice-marked,  242 

St.  Louis  (hill  near),  exposed  fossil  on  a 
weathered  limestone  surface,  318 

St.  Michel  (Mont},  observations  on  sands  of 
strand  near,  311 

Strahlek  snow-shed,  206 

Straits,  ancient  ones  in  the  West  of  Scotland, 
81 

Strata  not  always  deposited  flat,  310 

Strathaffaric,  deep  groove,  134 

Strath  Bran  once  a  strait,  135  ;  its  ancient 
state,  137  ;  ice-grooves,  148  ;  no  glacier  in 
it,  149 ;  seen  from  a  height,  152 

Strath  Conan,  deep  groove,  134 

Strathearn,  hills  beyond,  109 

Strathmore,  111 

Strath  Peffer,  granite  boulder  at  head  of.  152 

Strathspey,  traces  of  ice  movements,  123 


INDEX. 


517 


Stream  (arctic),  at  Newfoundland,  238  ;  bed 
cut  by  in  Yorkshire  rocks,  178 

Street  pavement,  wearing  of,  lesson  from,  100 

Striae  on  polished  surface,  3,  4 ;  on  rocks  of 
Snowdon  range,  197 

Strokr  or  churn  of  Great  Geyser,  411,  418, 
419 

Struan,  north  of  Blair- Athol,  moraine  at,  119 

Structure  of  earth,  how  geologists  would  like 
to  study,  367,  368 

Subsidence  of  sea,  how  indicated,  291 

Suil  Bheinn  in  Sutherlandshire,  158  ;  its  struc- 
ture and  shape,  159 

Sular,  Icelandic  for  pillar,  origin  of  name  Suil 
Bheinn,  159 

Summer  (warm)  sets  ice  adrift  and  intensifies 
cold  in  other  places,  239 

Sun  making  photograph  of  himself,  472,  473, 
474,  502  ;  plan  devised  for  observing,  476; 
sun-pictures,  472,  479  ;  can  engrave,  480 ; 
sun's  path  on  two  cloudy  days,  481  ;  can  do 
the  work  of  hot  iron,  482 ;  spoor  of,  for  three 
winter  months,  observed  at  Campden  Hill, 
486 ;  its  effects  on  sealing-wax,  491 ;  its  rays 
act  as  a  mechanical  force,  492 ;  its  atmo- 
sphere, 495  ;  bands  on,  496 

Sun's  rays  set  to  make  pictures,  carve  wood, 
move  machinery,  etc. ,  472  ;  can  wind  up  a 
clock,  decompose  fluids,  etc.,  499 ;  reflected 
and  absorbed  cause  radiating  movements, 
471 ;  forms  in  a  legible  index,  500 

Sun-dial,  a  new  self-registering  one,  483 

Sun-light,  its  influence,  and  what  counteracts 
that  influence,  260  ;  engine-turning  by,  484 

Sun-power  might  work  heat-machines,  266 

Sunshine,  power  of  a  ray  in  spinning  drops  of 
collodion,  462 

Superior  (Lake),  change  of  level  that  would 
sink  255 ;  deposits  of  iron  and  copper 
around,  340 

Surtshellr,  Icelandic  cavern,  399 ;  roof  of, 
401  ;  sinking  of  lava  at,  424 

Sutherlandshire  glens,  their  direction,  134 ; 
coast,  direction  of,  155  ;  once  under  water, 
156  ;  nature  of  central  parts,  157  ;  hills  of, 
158,  159 

Sweden,  a  bit  of,  planted  in  the  midst  of  Ire- 
land, 51 

Swiss  mountains,  snow-line,  glaciers  and 
glacial  action,  251 

Switzerland,  sea-beaches  high  up  in,  252 
Symmes  (Captain)  believes  interior  of  world  to 
be  peopled,  368 

TALLOW,  setting  of,  337 

Tana  (River),  beds  of  sands  cut  by  floods, 
311 

Tan-y-Bwlch,  boulders  near,  210 

Taormina,  Etna  in  eruption  viewed  from,  371 

Tarbevt,  perched  blocks  and  ice-marks  near, 
76  ;  in  Scotland,  how  formed,  135 

Tay  and  Isla  did  not  carve  hills  of  central 
Scotland,  110 

Taylor  (Dr.  A.  S.),  thermometrical  table,  326 

Temperature  of  salt  mines  at  Northwich,  183  ; 
gradual  change  of,  in  Denmark  from  cold  to 
warm,  216  ;  (mean)  at  earth's  surface  as  cold 
as  it  ever  was,  249 ;  in  which  organisms  will 
live,  319 ;  effects  of  a  falling,  320  ;  of  hot 
springs  no  measure  of  temperature  deep 


under  ground,  392 ;  registered  by  rain-marks, 
317 

Teneriffe  (Peak  of),  how  raised  from  the  sea, 
434 

'  Teneriffe,'  by  C.  Piazzi  Smyth,  referred  to, 
485 

Terraces  of  drift  at  Dalwhinny,  137 ;  at  Stock- 
bridge,  resembling  those  of  Scandinavia, 
224,  225 ;  heights  in  Asia,  America,  and 
Europe  at  which  they  are  situated,  255  ;  in 
Newfoundland,  290 

Terraced  piles  of  boulders  at  Dunrobin,  155 

Test  River  at  Stockbridge,  223  ;  lessons  de- 
rived from  it,  231 

Thermometer,  attempt  to  get  a  large  one  into 
the  middle  of  Geyser  tube,  417 

Thermometers,  forms  of  plants  and  animals, 
319 

Thingvalla,  sunk  plain  of,  399 ;  sinking  of  lava 
at,  424 

Thistles,  direction  of  wind  from,  9 

Thorn  (old)  tree  on  N.  Berwick  Law  shows 
general  direction  of  wind,  104 

Thunderbolt  whieh  fell  between  Edinburgh 
and  Glasgow,  what  it  turned  out  to  be,  382 

Tides  throw  light  on  marks  raised  by  old 
Scotch  ice,  88 ;  (ancient)  near  Strath  Bran, 
148 ;  (cold)  once  in  Cheshire,  shown  by  con- 
torted sand-beds,  182  ;  (high)  from  strong 
gales  at  sea,  276 ;  and  tidal-waves,  280 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  how  inhabitants  sink  their 
dead,  190 

Tigers,  remains  of  gigantic  tigers  in  British 
Islands,  192 

'  Times,'  extract  from  letter  in,  about  erup- 
tion of  Etna,  373,  374 

Tintron,  Iceland,  how  it  may  have  been  formed, 
399,  403 

Tobar-an-doon,  the  resort  of  sick  pilgrims,  58 

Tom-na-Shirich,  how  it  would  be  affected  by  a 
rapid  tide  over  Inverness,  133 

Tool-mark  of  wave,  281,  282 

Top  (metal),  spinning  of,  in  water,  464,  465 ; 
patent  metal,  447 ;  their  spinning,  448 ;  ex- 
periments with,  449 

Tors  of  Devonshire,  6;  broken  and  jointed 
tors,  7 ;  of  Dartmoor,  220 

Torridon,  terraces,  148 ;  hills,  154 

Tour  de  Balene,  a  lighthouse,  view  of  waves 

from,  279 
Tracks  of  ancient  creatures  on  ripple-marks, 

281 

Traditions  .tested  by  geological  discoveries, 
186-193 ;  about  movement  of  boulders  in 
Isle  of  Man,  173 

Traeth  Mawr  and  Traeth  Bach,  198 
Traeth  Mawr,  beach  at,  287 
Trains  of  stones,  origin  of,  11 
Trees  in  exposed  places  used  to  know  general 
direction  of  wind,  2 ;  of  coal  formation,  283 
Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland,  raised  beach  at, 

289 
Troilite,  a  mineral  found  in  meteoric  stones, 

383 
Truim  (Glen),  time  since  there  has  been  no 

land-glacier  in,  137 

Tube— buried  lava-tube  in  Iceland,  426 
Tube  making  engine  at  work  in  Iceland,  404, 
405 ;  exploration  of,  by  means  of  an  experi- 
ment, 406 


518 


INDEX. 


Tubes  of  the  Geysers,  395-398;   rough  stone 

tubes,  398 ;  in  volcanoes,  401-403  ;  in  granite, 

404  ;  in  highest  mountains,  409 
Tullich,  heaps  of  ice-marked  stones,  81 
Tulloch,  boulders  of  pink  granite  near,  152, 

167 
Turner  (J.  M.  W.),  tried  to  paint  iron-melting, 

361 
Tyree,  perched  blocks,  161 ;  curve  of  Arctic 

Current,  163 
Tyr  Von,  in  Anglesea,  ground  and  scratched 

by  ice,  208 

UAISH  (Beinn).     See  Ben  Wyvis 
'  Umbra,'  '  Travels  by,'  referred  to,  358 
Underground  traditions  about  heroes,  190 
United  States,  ice-marks  in  Northern,  242 
Upheaval  of  Wales,  how  its  rate  might  be  cal- 
culated, 211 ;  (phenomena  of  geological)  may 
be  studied  at  an  iron-furnace,  364 
'  Upthrows '  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  220 ; 
in  sedimentary  rocks  may  indicate«chambers, 
422 

VAPOUR  in  India  intensifies  the  heat,  257  ;  and 
sparks  emitted  by  fire-ball,  386;  columns 
over  holes  in  Iceland,  420 

Vegetable  life,  influence  of  light  on,  488,  489 

Vegetation  (chemistry  of)  studied  from  a  small 
model,  307  ;  of  water-formation,  335  ;  de- 
stroyed by  smelting  of  lead-ores,  341 ;  in 
Iceland,  places  where  it  is  best,  431 

Vermont,  ice-marks  in,  242 

Vesuvius,  tube  at  bottom  of  crater,  401 ;  craters 
and  lavas  of,  402,  403  ;  its  longest  slope,  454 

Vine-terraces  of  the  Rhine,  terraces  in  York- 
shire resembling,  179 

Volcanic  disturbance,  areas  affected  by,  Keith 
Johnston's  map,  178 ;  eruptions  in  1863, 
228 ;  explosions  in  molten  silver,  350,  351  ; 
bombs,  370-382  ;  action  in  many  parts  of 
Iceland,  396  ;  eruptions  (recent),  in  Sicily 
and  Iceland,  355  ;  highest  mountains  are, 
433 

Volcano,  effects  of,  on  rocks,  325  ;  stone  pro- 
jected from,  its  motion,  451 

Volcanoes  (extinct)  at  Myvatn,  a  cluster  of, 
421 

Volcanoes,  their  forms  and  movements  imi- 
tated, 434-437 

Volga,  what  change  of  level  would  sink  its 
source,  255 

WALES,  hills  of  N.E.  part  of,  as  seen  from 
Chester,  19  ;  its  general  character,  184  ; 
rising  of  land  in,  187  ;  sinking  of,  190  ; 
action  of  ice  as  observed  in,  194  ;  Ordnance 
map  of,  194;  its  weathered  hills,  boulders, 
and  perched  blocks,  196 ;  geology  of,  213  ; 
how  it  has  been  ground  down,  214  ;  geologi- 
cal sections  show  fine  series  of  folds  and 
curves,  331 
Wandering  blocks  of  Arran,  above  Loch  Eru-ht, 

and  on  Ben  Wyvis,  8 

Wart  well,  ice-marks  on  a  trap  surface,  114 
Washington  (Mount),  ice-marks  on,  243 
Watch,   motion  of   hands    in  northern    and 

southern  hemispheres,  405 
Watch  cases  engraved  with  curves  by  engine- 
turning,  and  sun's  rays  may  do  so,  483 


Water-streams,  their  wearing  action  on  Scotch 
coast,  134  ;  meadows  at  Stockbridge,  229  ; 
mills,  modern,  264  ;  weights  used  by  millers, 
265 ;  was  it  too  cold  or  too  hot  in  strata 
which  contain  no  trace  of  life,  330,  331  ; 
formation,  334,  335  ;  state  of,  in  smelting 
lead-ore  for  silver,  342  ;  on  hot  iron  under 
steam-hammer,  343  ;  circulation  of  heated, 
888  ;  boiling,  near  water  scarcely  wanned, 
392  ;  lifted  by  engines,  440 

Water-fleas  in  vivarium,  308 

Watershed  in  passes,  sea-marks  on,  135  ;  in 
Ross-shire,  ice-marks  near,  146 

Wave  of  flood,  its  course,  88  ;  a  great  Atlantic 
one  described,  201 ;  a  breaker  builds  up  sea- 
beach,  261  ;  forms,  importance  of  knowing 
them  to  anglers  and  boatmen,  271 ;  the 
progress  and  breaking  of  a  big  one,  285, 
286  ;  formed  land  in  Iceland,  289 

Wave,  changing  form  of  breaking,  292  ;  marks 
need  not  be  the  work  of  the  sea,  294 

Waves  and  wave-marks  observed  from  Conway 
Castle,  195  ;  work  done  by  old  waves  may 
be  studied  from  existing  waves,  271 ;  growth 
of,  276  ;  systems  of,  277 ;  at  Weymouth, 
278  ;  Isle  de  Rhe,  279  ;  their  denuding  action, 
292  ;  how  their  progress  may  be  observed, 
303 

Wax,  freezing  of,  337  ;  illustrative  experiment 
with,  405,  406 ;  (hot)  experiments  on,  457, 
458,  461 

Wayne  (Fort),  section  of  gravel-pit  at,  313  ;  ex- 
plains what  is  going  on  in  the  Atlantic,  314 

Way's  light,  how  produced,  441 

Wearing  away  of  land  by  sea,  185 ;  of  slate 
rock  in  Wales  by  a  river,  211 

Weather  of  1863  and  1864  in  Britain,  Canada, 
Labrador,  and  Newfoundland,  258 

Weathering  of  rocks,  13 ;  different  ways  and 
rates,  14 

Welsh  towns,  how  they  would  be  affected  by 
a  sinking  of  land,  187  ;  hills  and  their  ice- 
marks,  202 

Western  Islands,  forms  of  glaciation  and 
weathering  among,  160 

Westman  Islands,  volcanic  nature  of  country 
about,  396  ;  cones  of  eruption,  433 ;  millions 
of  birds  on  shelves,  433 

Westport,  big  stones  at,  46  ;  Westport  curve, 
47-53 

Wet  finger  may  be  dipped  into  fluid  iron  or 
lead  with  impunity,  343 

Weymouth,  waves  and  systems  of  waves  ob- 
served at,  278 

Whale  skeleton  found  in  Carse  of  Stirling, 
108;  bones  in  drift  near  Lake  Champlain, 
243 

Wharfdale,  Yorkshire,  peculiar  terraces  in, 
179 

Wheeler  (Mr.  T.  R.),  paper  in  '  Photographic 
Journal,'  1860,  referred  to,  485 

Whinstone  fused  into  a  black  glass,  325  ;  like 
lavas,  326 

Whirlpools  in  Scotland  caused  by  tides,  89 ; 
in  fluids  and  in  air,  494 

Whitefarlane,  Arran,  striw  on  slate,  68 

White-hot  bar  of  iron  plunged  into  water,  ob- 
servations on,  343 

White  Mountains,  ice-marks,  243  ;  raised 
beaches  on,  290 


INDEX. 


519 


Wight  (Isle  of),  tradition  about  its  once  having 

been  joined  to  England,  188 
Will,  cause  of  motion,  274 ;  (human),  what  it 

can  produce,  442 
Wind,  direction  how  known,  2  ;  near  C'onway 

Castle,  prevailing  one  indicated  by  the  trees, 

195  ;  motion  and  progress  of,  275 
Winds  over  Himalayas,  their  influences,  257 

moist  warm  south-westers,  258 
Windows  at  Giarre  broken  by  concussion  of 

volcano,  374 

Wishaw,  ripple-marked  sandstone  at,  97 
Wistman's  Wood,  boulder  on  hill,  222 
Woolwich,  old  iron  melted  at,  36 ;  shot  and 

shell  making  at,  observations  on  slag,  470 
Working  models,  value  of,  275 


Worn  shelf  near  a  real  beach,  292 

Wyvis  (Ben),  a  great  block  of  high  ground 
topped  by  a  rolling  plateau,  133 ;  shoulder 
of,  149  ;  mass  of  hill,  151  ;  shape  due  to 
denudation,  153  ;  rock  surfaces  on,  154 ; 
possible  sources  of  its  boulders,  157  ;  mica- 
schist  blocks  on,  255 

Y  WYDDPA,  ice-marks  on,  202 

Yorkshire,  hilly  tract  in,  17S  ;  dales  like  Ice- 
landic glens,  178,  179  ;  drift  in,  179  ;  dales 
not  formed  by  rivers,  180  ;  ancient  climate 
of,  282  ;  smelting  of  lead-ores  destroyed 
vegetation,  341 

ZIRCON-SYENITE,  where  found,  183 


THE  END. 


Printed  by  R    CLARK,  Edinburgh. 


20585 


;  - 


-' 


REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  689  056    o 


' 

- 


1  '    1 


- 
.   • 


